


A Song to Slay a Dragon

by KanArcoGuppy



Category: Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Multi, Self Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-08
Updated: 2015-09-03
Packaged: 2018-04-03 10:55:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4098367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KanArcoGuppy/pseuds/KanArcoGuppy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Life works in odd ways. Sometimes you just try to spend the night stargazing with two of your best friends when suddenly you're thrown into bloody war. Hey, it happens to the best of us.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. They Need Us? (Matt)

That night was typical for New England. The night was cloudy, wet, tiring. I was ready to fall over from boredom. School dances typically had that effect on me. Half the time, I never even wanted to go, I would just get convinced by my friends. How they managed to pull that card on me all the time I'll never know, but to be fair they always had good intentions. This dance was typical of a high-school: loud music, assorted snacks, people hooking up in the corners, strobe lights, and (of course) that guy with no shirt on (we all know that guy). My friends and I didn't do too much, just dance for an hour or so and then leave to hang out as we normally did. Slowly our friends trickled off to their separate dorms until only a few of us were left.

"Welp, it's 5 minutes to dorm check in. You guys coming?" Alex stood up, stretching.

Jason shook his head. "We got permission to go to the campgrounds tonight and we're gonna go stargazing and shit. We're probably gonna spend the night there, if you wanna come later."

Alex debated this internally for a second. After a moment though, he shook his head and started walking back, "I'll pass tonight, it's too cold. Have fun!" We bid each other goodnight and the last of us remained: Jason, Maya, and I.

"Well," Jason said cheerfully, "Shall we start heading through the sketchy-ass woods to get to our campsite?" Maya picked up the telescope, Jason grabbed the food, and I hitched the pack carrying the tent on my back. We headed out towards the path leading to our school's 800 acres of woods.

"You know," I said eventually "I'm actually kinda glad I'm here tonight" Maya glanced over at me.

"You think we'd let you go home and play League all night? You're never here for dances. Nerd."

"But… I hate dances"

"Oh shut up! You had fun, right?"

I shrugged. Really this was the only part of the night what I was looking forward to. The clouds were supposed to clear around one o'clock and there were no other lights than the moon and stars when we were this far from campus. That brought up another question though. "What were we going to do until one o'clock?" I asked. Maya shrugged,

"I brought your 3DS, so that gives us Kirby, Pokémon X, and Fire Emblem."

"Jason still hasn't played Awakening" I said, rather pointedly at Jason. We looked at him with questioning expressions. He groaned.

"I don't see how you can be mad at me for not playing it when Maya practically stole your DS, dude." He said. I glanced at Maya, who shrugged.

"Guilty" she said. We laughed lightly and kept on our path. We soon found our campsite and put our stuff down. From this hill, you could see everything around campus. I could see the chapel extending above the trees, and the faint glow of campus lights. I looked at the mountains, seeing farmlands and peaks against the night sky. I lay out on the grass and sighed. Maybe it was a good idea to stay tonight. I never should have though. The whole night had this feel to it. I felt like it was really important that I be there. Looking up at the sky, the clouds still blocked the moon and the stars, but they shinned so bright that we could see.

Maya was busy starting a fire and Jason was getting out the marshmallows when I proposed an idea to pass the time, something we could all do, "You guys want to sing? I feel like singing." Maya and Jason looked at each other and then back to me. You need to understand, we all do theater: plays, musicals and the like. We all could sing, and not to brag, but we were good. In fact a few nights before the dance we sang a quartet a capella with Alex for the school's performance night. We got a standing ovation.

"What do you propose?" Jason asked. "Maybe the C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E-S-O-N-G so-"

"No!" Maya and I cut him off in unison.

"Well," I said "why don't we just sing Jersey Boys or something?" Maya put her hand to her forehead "Oh god no please." I laughed. "Alright alright, why don't we sing… Go the Distance?" We had only practiced it a few times, but it should sound alright without Alex… probably.

We sat at the fire and started cooking marshmallows as we pitched ourselves and prepared to sing. I breathed in. The air was crisp; the smell of the wood burning filled my nostrils and gave me a nice feeling. I always loved the smell. We began to sing, Maya taking Tenor, Jason taking Bass, and I took Lead. It did sound a bit weird without our Baritone, but we still sounded really nice.

_I have often dreamed, of a far off place_

_Where a great warm welcome will be waiting for me._

_We looked back and forth at each other as we sang, smiling, rising in volume._

_Where the crowds will cheer, when they see my face_

_And the voice keeps saying this is where I'm meant to be_

_It truly was a nice night. We raised the volume to as loud as we could and let the air fill our stomachs as we delivered the next lines full force:_

_I will find my way, I can go the distance_

_I'll be there someday, if I can be strong._

_I know every mile will be worth my while_

_When I go the distance, I'll be right where I belong._

We continued to sing all the songs in our repertoire, and by the time we finished the last one, the sky had cleared. We took turns looking through the telescope. It truly was a beautiful night. I shouldn't have stayed though. Jason was taking his turn at the telescope, and as he turned to tell me something his expression became slack-jawed.

"Did I get that ugly in the last 5 minutes?" I asked, jokingly. His face didn't change. Maya looked at him, looked at me, and total shock covered her face. Something was certainly off. I turned around. Light was gathering into one spot, eventually converging into something that looked vaguely human. The light dimmed, and in it, I saw a woman. Her hair was a shocking green, and she wore a white dress. On the ground where she was standing, flowers were growing out of the ground, and the symbol of Fire Emblem Awakening (you know what it was called… Mark of the Exalt?) was shinning around her feet. … Naga?

"I have been looking for you for a long time now, Angels of Music" she said, speaking into our minds. Now, as FREAKING AWESOME as it was to be called an Angel of Music by something that was obviously not of this world, I was already not on board with what "Naga" was going to say to us. I looked behind me at my friends. Maya was as surprised as me, probably recognizing Naga from the game, and Jason was just dumbfounded. Naga continued: "You are aware of a certain game from this world correct?" I could only assume she meant Awakening. None of us were able to speak still so she continued. "I assure you that that world is very real. Something is wrong though, the course that the world is supposed to take took a horribly wrong turn, and almost ended. I'm using some of the last of my power to come to you with a proposition." Naga's image flickered. I finally worked up a single word, "…What?"

Naga continued, "That world needs you three. I have determined that what went wrong in that world can be stopped by your presence. I am not sure how, however." Naga looked at us sadly. She was beautiful in a strange, goddess-like sort of way. I swallowed, steeled myself, and spoke,

"So… you want to bring us into the world of Awakening."

Jason spoke up behind me, "I don't think you are making the right decision here. It's a game about a war right? We aren't soldiers. We're…" Jason swallowed his pride for a moment "Well, we're nerds. Scrawny, non-athletic, do the play instead of sports. Nerds!"

"I'm athletic!" Maya said angrily at Jason

"I'm not scrawny." I said with a scowl. Jason raised his hands defensively,

"Well, I guess, but what about experience? And even if you aren't scrawny, none of us are a shining example of a jock, MUCH less a fighter." He had us there.

Naga giggled. "I can fix things like that. I'm afraid that… I'm almost out of time to talk to you. This world needs you more than you could ever comprehend." She looked at us with sad eyes. "I implore you to accept. If you do not, the world shall be lost." I looked back at my two friends. Maya seemed… ready, almost. As if she was expecting this to happen all along. Jason looked between us. He wasn't physically strong, or even just big, and he wouldn't have an easy time in a war, regardless of knowledge. At the same time though, Jason cared deeply for anyone with any sort of problem, as did Maya, and as did I. We came to a silent agreement. They stepped forward on either side of me and together, we faced Naga. Maya spoke up for us, "Go ahead Naga. T-take us to where you need us."

Naga smiled. "I'm going to take you back to where the Exalt finds the son of Grima. At that time, there was no outside interference. I wish you luck."


	2. New Enhancements (Matt)

Right after Naga wished us luck, white light engulfed us. Closing my eyes did nothing, all I could see was white. But the light wasn't searing, it was a kind sort of light. Despite being brighter than when you stare at the sun, my eyes felt totally relaxed. At least that was some assurance that Naga had good intentions for us. The light slowly, ever so slowly, faded to black. It felt as though it took months to clear, but eventually I opened my eyes to a blue sky with a few scattered clouds. I sat up groggily, rubbing the sides of my head. Something felt very off. I tried to stand, but lost my balance and fell back again. I looked down at my legs and couldn't believe what I was seeing.

My legs were much longer than they were before I had been transported here. Bewildered I looked at my arms. I had more muscle than I had before too. Finally I looked downwards at my midsection. I had lost all my chub, but I wasn't ripped. Just a bit more athletic. At my side, I found a sheathed sword and lying on the ground next to it was a shoulder shield, similar to those worn by the Mercenary class from the game. Guess that was going to be my job. I glanced around. Jason and Maya were laying a few feet away from me, and it was obvious they went through similar changes. Jason was less boney than he had been before. Like me, he wasn't rippling with muscles, but he had certainly developed some. He was tall to begin with, so he hadn't gained as much height as I had. On his back was a simple Iron Bow, complete with a quiver. Lying in front of him was a dagger. Archer?

Maya had her own major share of changes. It looked like she had had the same strength boost as Jason and I as well. What threw me off was that, unlike Jason, she looked significantly older than before, as if she had gone from 15 to 19 or 20. Looking closer at Jason, he also looked older, anywhere from the age of 19-22. I looked over myself again. Aging would explain the height at least. It seemed like a plausible theory, but one that could be figured out later. For now, I continued to examine the changes Maya went through. Lying by her side was a red book stacked on a black one. I guess she was a mage? Although, if she had a black book she was probably a Dark mage. They were both still out cold. I took notes on our surroundings. Far to the, what, north? Far to the north I saw a small village. Other than that I only saw mountain ranges and open land. The area that we were in was a grassy field, probably the same one from the opening of the game.

That gave me another thought. Were the three of us the tactician? That would be bad; the army would get nothing done. Jason hadn't played through the whole game, and Maya wasn't good at it. I wasn't exactly a shining example of tactics. I gave up on lunatic mode at Chapter 3. I looked around, trying to see if there was some form of the Avatar character anywhere. Nope, didn't see one. My train of thought was broken when I heard Jason groan. His face glanced up from the dirt and he focused on the dagger. He just stared at it for a moment.

"Is this a dagger I see before me, the handle towards my hand?" He said. His voice had gotten significantly deeper as well it seems. "Come let me clutch thee" he said reaching out at it. I rolled my eyes. Even after all of this change, we were still theatre nerds. Ugh. Sorry. Theater nerds, for you plebeians. Couldn't change that too could you Naga? Would it have been that hard to make us somewhat cool? Oh whatever, it would give us something to do without technology. Oh shit, no technology! How would I occupy my every waking hour without Game Grumps and Anime? How would Jason and Maya live without Tumblr? Curse you Naga! I thought to myself. I mean it was nice to have a sort of "Level up" thing going on here but come on. Ah well. Jason seemed to be having the same revelation about our physical changes, as he looked at me and Maya with scanning eyes. Shakily, he stood up, adjusting to his new height.

"Shit, how long was I out? You look like you're 20 now!", he said. I inspected myself again. I had strapped the sword to my back and put the shield on my right shoulder. My clothes had changed to a simple cotton shirt and pants. I looked back at Jason. He had on a similar outfit, only his shoulder guard was leather.

"I don't know, but you look pretty old yourself." I said. Jason glanced down at himself and seemed to notice his changes for the first time. He looked back up at me with wide eyes.

"Where those marshmallows laced with something? I thought we were going to a new world, not skipping 3 years of our lives." It was true. This arrangement seemed odd. Maybe it was to avoid suspicion of some 17 year olds walking around with the army. I couldn't pretend I understood Naga's plans, but for the meantime, this upgrade was pretty nice.

Jason looked at his knife intently. He looked up at me, "I'm not a thief, am I?" he asked. I pointed at his shoulder. He felt around and found the bow. He carefully took it off his back and felt its weight. "Swag!" I glared.

Maya moaned. We turned in her direction as she rose to her knees. She started to stand, and like I did, fell over as she wasn't used to her new body. Gradually, she managed to stand. Jason and I just watched and let her get a feel for her surroundings. She glanced down, and seeing the books, picked them up. She had on a similar outfit as us, only she didn't have a guard for her shoulder. She glanced at us through squinting eyes. Oh, I hadn't noticed. None of us had our glasses on, and all three of us needed them. After that revelation, I also realized that I hadn't noticed because my vision had become perfect. Thanks Naga.

"What… the f-" She started, but I cut her off.

"We aren't too sure either" I said, "but as soon as you gather your bearings, I think I know our first step." Maya was flipping through her spell books. She walked around a little bit, like you do with new shoes and finally stopped. She cleared her throat, and she began to sing. Now, Maya could most certainly sing before. Now though… now she could sing better than a lark. Jason and I exchanged glances. Looks like we didn't only get physical upgrades. Jason tentatively tried to sing some low notes, and found his range had extended downward by at least 5 full steps. I tried my own tenor. It felt as though the sound just came naturally, I no longer had to try to sing well. Now, it was as if I was so used to singing that the sound flowed like honey and sounded just as sweet. We quietly sang a little trio together, testing our new abilities.

"Alright," Maya said eventually, "you said you think you knew our next step. Might as well start heading there now." I nodded and turned to the village I saw earlier.

"That village," I said, "Is the town that was burned at the beginning of the game by bandits. Naga said she would bring us here right before Chrom finds Robin…" I was still nervous that we were Robin, but we weren't woken up by Chrom so hopefully we would be fine. "So at any moment, that village-", As if on cue, smoke began to rise from the town. "-will be set on fire. So… anyone else wanna try out their new weapons?"


	3. Yet Who Would've Thought (Jason)

The first thing I noticed about the trek to the burning village was my ankle pain. Or, rather, lack thereof. The last, like, 6 years, I've had horrible ankle pain. Like, my tendons didn't work. Now I was...completely healthy? And also I wasn't out of breath. No one was panting, and we were running across uneven ground. I was so caught up in my musings that Matt had to grab me before I stumbled into a burning pile of rubble.

"Easy," he said. "Watch your step man. It would be embarrassing to be killed by a mass of burning wood."

I frowned while Matt and Maya laughed. Burning to death would be pretty embarrassing, but I felt like maybe the embarrassment would be the least of my worries if that happened. "So what do we do?", I said. "Just charge into the burning village? This is the part where we meet Chrom, right?" My knowledge of the game was rusty because I hadn't fully beaten it yet, but this should be the chapter after the premonition.

Matt looked at me. "Yeah...But I'm not exactly sure where in the town...it's not like Awakening is a FPS. If I remember, they come in from the South"

"Matt...that's where we came from," said Maya. "We should just walk this way until we find them."

As if on cue, a man in black covered with various straps, a white cape, and a glistening steel pauldron on his left shoulder came from behind the building we were arguing by. "Who's there?" Chrom, right? Was this really happening? And why was he so hot?

Matt stepped in front of Maya and I. I guess he was taking initiative. "Chrom! Please, you need to listen to us! Naga sent us and we need to tell you how to save this world and-" Maya elbowed him and he shut up.

"Way to make us seem crazy, idiot."

The blonde girl following, the one in the corset with the yellow and white dress, looked at us quizzically. "What was that?" Lissa, that was her name.

This was going to hell. "Don't listen to our friend, please sir. He's just worn out. What he meant to say is that we are...um...here to help! Soldiers for hire! Vigilante warriors! We saw you were having a problem over here and we thought someone could use some help. About Naga….thats our name! You can call us the...Naga Quartet?"

Chrom raised his eyebrows. "There are three of you."

"The other one died." Maya deadpanned.

Lissa gasped. "Oh no I'm so sorry!"

"Besides that, what's to say we can trust you," said Chrom.

"We'll do it for free." Matt said

The white haired one in the long black coat pushed through the others. "Chrom, if they are doing it for free, we really could use the help."

"You bring up a fair point, Robin. Besides, we always have Fredrick the wary to watch over them. It's my initial reaction to trust someone, and it won't stop for these three." Robin. Right. The all-important protagonist. At least that meant none of us was the protag, right? That would suck, in all honesty. I mean, I hadn't even beaten the game, Maya wasn't anywhere near skilled at tactics, and Matt never made it past Chapter 3 on lunatic mode. "So it's settled these three will join us! What were your names again, strangers?"

"I'm Matthew, and these two are Maya and Jason. Pleasure to meet you, sir." Matt extended a hand, and Chrom took it and shook firmly.

"This is Lissa, our Cleric and my sister, and Frederick, our Knight. Don't let his stern look put you off, he means well." Lissa waved playfully, and Frederick gave a nod from his horse, accompanied with a terse grunt.

Further introductions were interrupted by a warcry from down the bridge to the North. Bandits approached across the market square we were in. "Everyone, get ready to fight!", shouted Chrom.

Fight? We didn't know how to fight! We were a couple high-schoolers, and no matter what no amount archery at camp or fencing lessons or tae kwon do could prepare us for a real war. What were we doing? And yet, before I knew it, my bow was in my hands and my arrow was notched. I looked over, and Matt had his sword in hand. Even Maya was holding out that red book she woke up with. Magic didn't even exist!

Chrom and Frederick pushed past me with a battlecry of their own, Chrom wielding Falchion and Frederick a silver lance. Frederick galloped towards the cart in front of me, his horse clearing it and the bandit behind, before charging towards another. Chrom advanced towards the river, parrying blows that came at him with effortless swipes. I turned, and suddenly a bandit was advancing on me, his sword glinting with the afternoon sunlight and the flames of the burning town. Before I knew what was happening, I let loose the arrow I had notched. It hit his shoulder, slowing his advance but not stopping him. Suddenly he was on me, and the dagger that was at my belt was in my hand. He swiped in a wide arc at me, and I dodged to the left, using his momentum to throw him off balance. I guess stage combat really did have a practical use. My blade, deceptively small, slid itself from my hand with a slick noise into his stomach. Something hot and wet coated my hand. What did I just do? Up until this point it had all seemed like a game, no, it had all been a game. But now it was something real. All that could come to mind in that moment was that moment in "Macbeth" when everyone really finds out that Macbeth killed King Duncan. The Doctor and Gentle woman overhear Lady Macbeth in a fit of insanity. Can you imagine? I just killed a guy, and I looked down at the blood all over my hands and and knife, and all I could do was quote Macbeth. Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.

Matt kicked the body off of me and gave me a distraught look. His sword had blood on it as well, and he had a cut on his chest. He knew what was going on. "C-come on Jason. Lets go help." He offered me a shaky hand.

"Matt, you know that part where Lady Macbeth talks about killing Duncan and how she can't get the blood off her hands and stuff?"

"Yeah?"

"That."

"Yeah."

Maya stood a few yards away from us. Bolts of black and orange flame shot from her outstretched right hand, and at first she was smiling, reveling in her new abilities. I was horrified, but then I realized she was indirect. She didn't have to kill them right next to herself. I would've felt the same way if I just killed him with my bow. Everything changed when one of the bandits leapt towards her. She turned in time and blasted him away. He fell to her feet, burning and scorched, screaming in pain. She grimaced, and fired again, which only resulted in more cries of pain. After burning for what seemed like hours, the bandit finally died. Maya stared down at the labor of her hands. How did Chrom and Frederick do this? The three of us held our position for what seemed like forever. Eventually Robin came to us. The battle was over, Chrom had killed their commander. We came to a silent agreement and put on brave faces. We couldn't appear this weak to them after claiming to be soldiers for hire. Thank Naga for acting.

"Chrom said he would like to speak to you guys. Could you come to the bridge on the north end of town?" I wiped the blood from my dagger and followed Robin, and Matt and Maya came up behind me.

"Naga...trio? Nice to see you all still alive. Thank you so much for the help with that, and I guess this is where we part ways." Chrom gestured to the South. "Where will you be going?"

"Actually, sir, we would like to stay with you." I said.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, we are kind of in between jobs at the moment, and we don't really have anywhere to go, so maybe if you could take us-"

Lissa nudged Chrom. "They are staying for free~"

Chrom sighed. "Very well, then. You seem to have made quite the impression on my compatriots." Lissa clapped her hands together, Robin patted me on the back, and I swear I saw, if even for a millisecond, a slight turn up in the corner of Frederick's mouth. "We make camp tonight in the forest, and tomorrow we will leave to the North! I look forward to fighting alongside you all."

Our group of seven set off out of the town to the North. This may have been the wildest day of my life. And, regardless of the shock of the blood earlier, I was feeling...giddy. We were making a difference, right? And all that shock seemed to have dulled since. It was nice to know that I wasn't the only one suffering. I reached back, repositioned the bow on my back, and smiled slightly. I looked up at the new and foreign sky. Alex sure was missing out on this stargazing.


	4. Getting To Know You (Jason)

The walk took what felt like forever. Even with the new body, my feet hurt. I could see Maya and Matt felt the same way. The adrenaline of the fight had worn off, and my bruises throbbed. My head hurt. I didn't feel nearly as giddy as I had hours ago, which was to be expected after walking for…

"How long do you think we've been walking for?" I said as I leaned over to Maya. Before she had the time to respond, Chrom interrupted.

"I think we can make camp here, all." I let out a sigh. The sky was already turning dark here, and probably back home too. There was at least time in common with this foreign place and our homes, no matter how stressful and different this place was.

Maya stuck her tongue out, a gesture almost too earthly to exist in this place. "I guess there's your answer."

"Lissa, stay here and help our new recruits get settled in. Frederick and I will go get some foodstuffs." Chrom set off with his brusque knight, while I and the others sat down and Lissa constructed an impromptu fire. Soon we were all pitching in.

Matt laughed a little and turned to me. "It feels like we were just doing this at school," he said.

I smiled, wistfully. "We were."

"Yeah," Matt sighed, "We were."

Lissa politely intercepted our conversation. "So, where are you four from? I mean

Robin, obviously, you don't really remember...But what about you three?"

I panicked. I didn't know where we should be from. I turned to Maya and Matt. "Well...um…" I stuttered.

Maya came to my rescue. "Ylisse, same as you. A little town by a river. Sorry about Jason, sometimes he gets nervous when he talks to pretty girls." I shot her my very best death glare as Matt stifled a laugh. Maya winked back at me. They both knew I had next to no interest in girls, and Maya just had to go all flirty mode with Lissa on my behalf.

Lissa smiled awkwardly, but we didn't have to continue this bungled conversation anymore as Chrom and Frederick walked back into the clearing we had settled into, dragging some furry, large animal carcass behind them.

"What is that?" I muttered out.

"Bear," Frederick replied.

Maya and I shared another look, but without any humor this time. I didn't eat any meat and she didn't eat red meat. She was plain revolted by it, and I hadn't eaten any meat for years. I wouldn't be in fighting shape if I ate it. But I wouldn't be safe if I didn't eat it, either. Matt, on the other hand, was already over helping to skin and cut up slabs of meat, spitting them on some long branches over the fire. The meat, running with fat and blood, crackled as it was set above the fire.

I wasn't against preparing or touching meat, mind you. I just didn't want to eat it. And since I hadn't eaten for so long, eating it again would upset my stomach and set me throwing up for a while. So I helped, if only to not seem suspicious with my handling of the meat.

When everything was cooked, Chrom handed everyone a messy, juicy slab of bear-flesh. Robin and Matt shared a famished look, smiled at each other, and dug in. Lissa poked the meat with her finger and took a single dainty bite before setting the meat down.

"Food, my one true love…" I heard Matt whisper into the meat. "I was worried I'd never see you again"

Robin looked up at me and Maya after taking a bite, a worried look blossoming on his face. "Aren't you two going to eat?" he said.

I was hungry, and so was Maya. I looked over at her as she raised the quivering meat to her mouth, obviously trying not to inhale the smell too much. She bit down, chewing and swallowing quickly so as not to raise suspicion or to taste it too long. She hated the taste of meat usually, but hunger took over and she began to bite off more bear.

It felt like all eyes were on me. I frowned at the meat and opened my mouth. It wasn't that I hated the flavor of meat, I just wasn't super for eating it. It wasn't like I had any other option, so I bit down too, and Matt looked at me almost surprised. I shrugged. The bear tasted pretty good, crispy and rich, and most importantly my body recognized it as some kind of sustenance. Hunger is the best sauce. However, its deliciousness doesn't have any connection to digestibility.

Soon we had all eaten as much as we were going to. Matt had had somewhere like 3 chunks, and Chrom too. I smiled, even though I could already feel my stomach starting to rebel. At least they were having fun. And it seemed like Maya and Matt were starting to bond with the others, and every now and then someone would tell a joke and others would laugh. The fire began to die down, however, and Maya volunteered to go get more wood.

Frederick stood up. "You do not know these woods, and I am stronger. I will get the wood, and you should sit down." I cringed. Maya hated it when people told her what to do. A storm was coming.

"Excuse me?" Maya's eyes turned from warm and helpful to icy cold. "Do you think that I can't go get some fucking logs? Watch me." She walked away from the fire to the woods, an orb of her new-found magic lighting the way, with a poise as to trample everything on the way. Frederick stood up brusquely, a sort of fiery look in his eyes, and he followed her, growling after Maya about training and discipline. Matt laughed tensely.

Matt and Robin seemed to get along well, and I caught snippets of their conversation.

"So Robin, what is your opinion on blue hair?" Matt asked, as innocently as possible.

"What, like Chrom?" Robin responded, shifting uncomfortably.

"Yeah, actually, a lot like Chrom's. Like, if he had a daughter or something, I don't know" Matt responded, blinking, completely poker faced. Even now, he's still a complete Robin/Lucina fan boy. Some things don't change.

I retired to a mossy spot on the ground while they still sat talking by the fire. Maya and Frederick were still in the woods, and their argument echoed quietly into the clearing, punctuated with the occasional break of a branch as they grabbed a log for the fire.

Eventually everyone was lying down somewhere, and it seemed like everyone but me was asleep. My stomach felt like I had maybe swallowed a burning log. I got up and tiptoed over to the bushes, and I felt a nauseous swing as I did so. I doubled over, throwing up as quietly as possible. Ew. There were little chunks in it too. I wiped my mouth off, and turned around to see a silhouette in front of me. My eyes focused, and I saw it was Lissa.

"Bear didn't sit well? Don't worry, I don't like it either." She smiled, and I smiled back. "Jason, right?"

I nodded. "That's me," I responded, weakly. "Yeah. I'm not sure why I ate the bear,

anyways. I knew it was going to upset my stomach, but I was hungry, I guess. I guess I didn't want everyone to think I was weird. You know?" She was a princess. Of course she didn't know. Everyone thought she was perfect, unlike me. "Or not."

"No, I know what you mean." She frowned. "Everyone always says that they need me to be ladylike and noble. I don't really want to, though, sometimes. I just kind of want to have fun and stuff, but everyone wants me to be their perfect princess. I feel like there isn't any direction, sometimes. I wish I could be like my sister. She's perfect, and no one judges her." Lissa frowned.

I was seized with the moment, and I hugged Lissa. She seemed momentarily surprised, but accepted it nonetheless. "I get it." I said "It feels like everyone

around me can do my job better, and that really I'm just wasting my time doing anything. Like you said, I never know where to go."

"Thanks for understanding. I don't have anyone to talk with, not really." She suddenly pulled back from the hug, and frowned, furrowing her brow. "Promise you won't tell anyone. Especially not Chrom or my sister Emm. They wouldn't understand…"

"I promise not to tell anyone, don't worry Lissa. Your secret is safe with me." I paused, and then added, "But I'm sure that they love you and would understand what you're feeling."

Lissa sighed. "Maybe," she said "But enough about me. Let me heal you up a little bit, maybe it will make your stomach ache go away. Sorry about all that. I just got...carried away I guess." She smiled sadly and took the staff off of her back. She pressed it against my stomach. She closed her eyes in concentration and the glass on the end of the staff started to glow blue. It felt uncomfortable, how my insides twisted and turned to right themselves, but by the end of it I felt a lot better. I was still queasy, but at least I would be able to fight.

I returned to where I had been sleeping before, but I still couldn't fall asleep. I heard whispering back towards the woods and decided to go investigate it, not even thinking about the possibility of it being danger.

"Do you think we should get Jason?" Maya whispered to Matt. They were sitting on a fallen log with their backs to me.

"I'm here," I whispered. "What's going on?"

"Not much." Matt replied. "Neither of us could sleep, so we just came out here and started talking. What do you think about the whole 'people getting married' thing? None of us are Robin so…"

"What's our role in this?" I caught on. "I don't know. I mean Robin and Chrom and all them have special kids, yeah, but what is our role in the whole paradox babies situation, right?"

"If I have my own specific kid, I swear to god I will kill something," said Maya.

"Harsh," Matt said. "But seriously, what effect are we even going to have? Will we even have one? Like what I if I marry the wrong person or get no one at all? Like when people don't make Robin marry Lucina or something."

Maya laughed. "Face it, I probably won't get married. Like, who would marry-" she gestured at herself "-this trash?"

I said. "Are any of the Fire Emblem characters not-straight anyways? Watch me get like….Frederick or something. That would be no fun. Dude never talks. It's weird."

Matt laughed, "No idea dude. Besides, you are probably going to die in like, two battles anyway." He winked.

I frowned. "Not funny. But actually, what's going to happen if we die? I mean I know we aren't main characters, so it would be for good, right? No resets?"

Matt's expression became serious, "I don't know. It's not like someone is playing right now, this feels real enough. To be perfectly honest… we would probably just die."

"Eh, if I die you guys get my stuff. Not like it will help you, but don't let it just like...rot or something." Maya said.

We laughed. "You know, we should probably, like, go to sleep. We're going to need it, especially if we have to battle or something tomorrow," I said.

"Wrong," Matt sighed. "Really, it's going to be in a couple of minutes. Excited for the cracking Earth and Fire everyone?"

Maya exclaimed. "Shit, is that tonight? I thought we'd at least have some time."

"I practically worship this game, I know everything." He gave us the look of a crazed cultist. "If I'm right, the explosions should start in about-" A boom resonated through the ground. "-now." He sighed, grabbing his sword from where it leaned against the log.

From across the clearing, Chrom was running with Lissa. I started to remember this part from what little I had played of the game. Robin and Frederick were asleep by the fire, the explosions were right behind Chrom and Lissa, and it was time to do something. I ran towards them, Matt following me. Maya ran to get my bow and her books and to go wake Robin and Frederick. We were about a fourth of the way to Chrom and Lissa when the sky started glowing with something other than flame.

Matt grumbled. "Here come the zombz."

Above us blossomed a blue ring of light, marked around the edges with the zodiac symbols. Flashback to Homestuck days. Centered in the ring was a giant eye of white light. Tumbling from the eye were the weird, purplish zombie things. The Risen. And they were rushing towards Chrom and Lissa. I knew 'Marth' would come and save them, but I still was running as fast as I could. Matt was coming too, sword drawn and ready to fight. Chrom was busy with a Risen, and Matt was slashing at another, but there will still more coming. One had Lissa pinned against a wall, and had its axe ready to slash at her. Fuck, I thought to myself. 'Marth' was nowhere to be seen. This was where 'Marth' saved her, though. Right?

My arm acted on its own. My dagger was in my hand before I could think, and I threw it through the air. There was no way it would get there in time. The Risen toppled to the ground, my dagger through its neck. Lissa looked at me incredulously, but the battle had already begun. No time to discuss. 'Marth'- well, Lucina -had arrived finally, but her job had been done by me. I realized what was happening. This was the first real change that we were enacting on the plot. We made our first difference. This wasn't a game anymore. It never was.


	5. Camping Trip (Maya)

The Risen surrounded us like a swarm. Though the game never explained what exactly they were up close it was clear they were fallen warriors. Battle wounds crisscrossed their skin but they didn't bleed, even from what seemed to be the fatal wounds that had killed them the first time. When we finally killed them, no pain showed on their faces as they disappeared into purple smoke. I could see my friends around me fighting for their lives, Matt slicing into the risen with his sword to my right and Jason notching arrow after arrow trying to save us from getting into the range of our enemies. I made my way towards Matt as he became surrounded by Risen.

"Maya!" I heard Jason yell. "Watch out!"

I turned around and found myself face to face to one of the foul smelling Risen. Instinctively, I put my hand up to it's face and pushed it away, magic surging through my arm and into it. It's skin sizzled on my hand and the disgusting smell grew stronger.

"Ugh! Gross!"

Even trudging through the woods hadn't prepared me for burnt zombie flesh ruining my manicure. I shook my hand off and turned to search for my next target and found myself in the very middle of the battle. I dodged the sharp claws of a Risen only to fall back into another. It's dagger poked into my back and I threw my arms out in a panic letting out an uncontrolled blast of magic. Light flashed around me followed by a heat that singed my skin. I hope no one on my team was around me but at the moment I didn't care. When my vision cleared I saw three crispy Risen on the ground around me. My heart beat so hard I could feel it thump against my ribs. If I had died what would have happened? Would Matt and Jason go on without me? Well? Probably. They seemed to be fine on their own taking down enemies left and right. I put my remaining energy into the battle but I could feel myself weakening. The Risens claws began digging into my skin and my hands were soon wet with blood. That was probably the moment I realized I was dying.

Shit, I don't want to die yet! I'm still a fucking virgin for God's sake.

Of course with my luck Robin noticed my impending doom at the exact moment I'd accepted it.

"Lissa!" He directed her towards me.

I swear I saw a halo circling her blond curls. As her staff touched me, I felt energy surge through my tired muscles. I watched as the cuts on my skin laced themselves together. All my pain disappeared, flowing out of me. A satisfied sigh escaped my lips

"Thank you."

Lissa smiled and fell back keeping away from the actual fighting.

I had never felt this grateful to someone in my life. With my newfound strength I pushed through until there were no more Risen I could see.

"Is that it?" I was still ready to fight, magic flowing through me to my fingertips.

"It appears so, unless there are some hiding in the trees." Chrom pointed to the treeline.

"I will check my lord." said Frederick as he moved towards the trees. He pushed past a masked figure I hadn't noticed before. Marth, or Lucina as I had learned, was here. I tried to suppress my inner fangirl and pretend like I wasn't freaking out by being within fifteen feet of her.

"It's her!" I whispered to Jason trying to hold back my giggles. He gave me a weak smile. He was clearly more exhausted than me. Blood was dripping from a cut above his forehead.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "You look a little….dead. Should we get Lissa to heal you?"

"No. She's done enough today." He looked towards Lissa. She looked like she was about to collapse but she still healed anyone with as much as a scratch. Damnit. As soon as I had accepted the possibility that people might actually die and never come back I had told myself I wouldn't make any friends here in case they did. Or if I had to kill them or something. I don't know I never finished the game. But they were all so nice, and loyal, and they all acted like real people not game characters. It was getting a lot harder to not care about them. Chrom was so loyal and righteous.

Virion was, predictably, flirting with every woman he saw. Lissa was putting up with his compliments and ridiculous stories about how he saved a whole village from burning to the ground singlehandedly. He had been with the shepherds for five minutes and he already acted like he owned the place. In some ways it was charming but right now I just wanted to tape his mouth shut.

"Hey can I talk to Lissa for a second?" I interrupted their conversation. Now's my chance to make friends.

"But I was just telling Lissa here about the time I caught a wild pegasus with my bare hands." Virion flashed a bright smile that I guess was meant to be seductive.

"I'm sure it's a great story!" I plastered on a smile of my own and sat down next to him on the log they were sitting on. "I'd love to hear it."

"Anything for you my lady." For a brief moment I shuddered imagining a sweaty man with a neckbeard and a fedora.

"I was walking through the forest on a clear day tracking a deer. I had just picked up it's trail when I saw it. A wild Pegasus. It was over six feet tall with a wickedly sharp horn."

"Isn't that a unicorn?" Lissa questioned him.

"It was…...a Pegacorn. A cross between a unicorn and a pegasus." Virion quickly defended himself.

"My golly! That sure sounds dangerous" I raised the pitch of my voice and laid on the sarcasm real thick.

"It was." Virion suddenly became serious. "I could have died and I would have never gotten to meet you ladies." Lissa and I shared an incredulous look. "But luckily I knew how to handle it. I ran straight into the face of danger and grabbed it by the horn!" I gasped and quickly threw up my hand to cover my mouth in a classicly damselesque pose.

"Yes! I know! It's hard to believe but I always do what's needed in times of danger." Virion puffed out his chest so that he appeared more noble.

"What happened next?" Lissa asked excitedly.

"Well, I swung around and mounted it. I held on for dear life as it flew all around the countryside. By the time the day was over I had tamed the beast."

"Oh you'll have to let me see it someday! Can you take us to see this magnificent pegacorn?" Lissa asked, wide eyed and innocent.

"Well…. I knew I couldn't keep a mythical beast like that locked up so….I set it free." Lissa deflated, feigning utter disappointment.

"That sounds pretty exciting." I said dreamily. "You must be pretty strong to tame a wild pegacorn!" I grabbed onto his biceps. "You have such big arms!"

"Oh, well, I am a master archer." He flexed his arms.

"And your legs must be pretty strong too."

"Of course."

"How about you do me a favor and use them to jump off a cliff." I deadpanned.

"Excuse me?" Virion stared at me bewildered.

"I said, go jump off a cliff." I almost burst out laughing when I saw his expression. He looked so hurt.

"Has no one called you out on your bullshit before?" I asked.

"I...I." he stumbled over his words. Now I felt just a little bad for him. Just this once I could cut him a bit of slack.

"If you want women to like you, you have to talk to them from the heart." I put my hand back on his arm, this time in a comforting gesture. "They don't always want to hear about you. You need to have an exchange. That's the only way you can have a connection."

"Plenty of women enjoy my company." Virion said, now uncertain of himself.

"Maybe, but how many of them stick around?" I asked sincerely. Maybe I could show him how to create actual relationships. He stayed silent.

"If you ever want to know how to make women actually want to talk to you, come to me." I stood up. "Lissa? I need to talk to you."

"Of course!" She stood and we walked away, leaving Virion to his own thoughts.

Once we were out of earshot I turned to tell her what had been bothering me since she saved me.

"I really want to thank you for helping me before. You saved my life." I said nervously. I'm not the best at emotional conversations.

"There's no need to thank me. I'll always help if I can."

"But you don't know me, or Jason and Matt. How can you trust us after so little time? Not that you shouldn't. You risk your life every time you heal someone. Why risk it for us?"

"Everyone here does the same in every battle, even you guys." she smiled. "When you fight with us you're risking your life as well. That's how I can trust you."

I was speechless. Before I talked to Lissa I had thought she was childish but her explanation was much wiser than I had expected. I felt bad for stereotyping her and the rest of the shepherds. Ugh. This meant I had to actually get to know them for who they really were.

"All clear." Frederick said as he returned to the clearing.

"I guess we sleep now." I looked around at our campsite. A few things had been knocked over but other than that it was untouched after the Risen completely vanished when killed.

I found Matt and Jason and settled near them.

"I hope I'm not the only one who won't be able to sleep after that." I stared into the treeline seeing nothing but darkness. I'll never admit it to anyone but I'm terrified of the dark. The only light source was the moon and stars above us.

"Well it was easier than real people, but don't worry. You aren't." Matt reassured me.

We all lay down together and look at the stars like some cheesy movie. There were so many more than at home. You don't really see any stars anywhere near NYC.

"The stars are different." Jason said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "There are a lot more I guess."

"No. I can't find any major constellations." he searched the sky, still looking for something recognizable.

"Well it is another world." Matt added. "This might be a completely different universe."

"Yeah." I searched for the Big Dipper, the only constellation I knew by heart, and found nothing.

We fell into a comfortable silence looking towards the sky. Laying here, it was easy to forget where we were and pretend we had continued with our camping plans back home.I was only starting to think about what our friends would be doing right now when Matt started singing.

_When the night has come_

_And the land is dark_

_And the moon is the only light we'll see_

_No I won't be afraid_

_Oh, I won't be afraid_

_Just as long as you stand, stand by me_

Jason and I took our respective parts building a nice background for Matt to work with, oohing and aahing and chiming in on the "stand by me". The song wasn't complicated but it was the most beautiful thing I've heard in a while. I hoped that everyone else in camp felt the same way.

_If the sky that we look upon_

_Should tumble and fall_

_All the mountains should crumble to the sea_

_I won't cry, I won't cry_

_No, I won't shed a tear_

_Just as long as you stand, stand by me_

_So darling, darling_

_Stand by me, oh stand by me_

_Oh stand now, stand by me, stand by me_

_Whenever you're in trouble won't you stand by me_

_Oh stand by me, oh won't you stand now, stand_

_Stand by me_

When we finished we settled back into the silence. There was no applause or anyone to tell us how we did but somehow, the sky seemed to get a bit brighter. I felt safer than ever since we had arrived in Ylisse. With my friends around me I finally sank into my dreams.


	6. A Little Bit of Home (Matt)

I don't really remember falling asleep after the battle with the risen, or if I had just blacked out rather than fall asleep, but either way I woke up early. As my eyelids spread they were greeted with the soft blue light of dawn, just breaking through the horizon. Around me, the Shepherds slept soundlessly and without motion. In the center was the remains of our campfire, nothing but a charred mess by this point. I sat up quietly and took in the surrounding forest. Directly in front of me was the clearing where we fought the horde of Risen the night before. To my right was a series of random bushes with red flowers on them, and to my left there was just another expanse of trees. I yawned before remembering that everyone else was asleep and covered my mouth. I held my breath and looked around quietly, and it didn't seem like I disturbed anyone. I slowly let out my breath and laid back down, putting my hands under my head and looking at the sky. It was a clear morning, with only one or two clouds scattered about. I closed my eyes and laid still for a while. Apparently, that was enough for someone else to wake up to.

Maya stirred across from me and yawned. Rubbing her eyes she glanced up at the trees. Although squinting at the sudden exposure to light, she seemed content (or at least as content as someone can be after fighting off zombies the night before.) The birds were beginning to sing with the coming morning, and Maya whistled to them. Remembering from back in school, I whistled Saria's Song from Ocarina of Time back at her, causing her to jump a little. We all had signature whistles to tell where we all were amongst the crowds. I say crowds, but really in a school of 300 or so crowds don't really exists. I hated the concept of the whistles. She loved it, and eventually I gave in.

Maya sat up in full and stretched her arms behind her back. She turned to me, "I figured you'd still be asleep. You usually wake up last." It was true. Given the choice, I'd wake up at 4 p.m.

I shrugged, "I'm a bit restless I guess…" I looked down at nothing in particular and sighed. We sat in silence for a while until Frederick came out of the woods with a lance stacked with fish. He glanced at us and gave a stern nod before making his way to the fire in the center to start cooking what was to be breakfast. I felt a sudden pain in my stomach with the realization of hunger and immediately got up to assist. Good manners and all that.

Frederick eyed me carefully, "You don't miss an opportunity for food do you?"

I gave him a big smile and joyfully conceded his argument with a "Nope." Sighing, he returned to trying to coax some life into the flames. I stood over his shoulder watching carefully. Eventually I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to come face to face with Chrom, his hair all tangled into a giant blue mess and his cape and pauldron removed. He gave me a friendly smile before passing me to begin talking with his attendant/loyal knight. I looked around the campsite once more. Jason, Virion, and Sully were all still asleep. Robin was sitting on a log and looking at the sky in thought. Maya was practicing flicking a little fire onto her fingertips like a lighter. She also let a tiny spark pass through the fingers of her other hand, but she couldn't keep them both going at the same time.

I walked over to Robin and took a seat down next to him. He briefly acknowledged me with a quiet greeting before returning to the sky. He casually looked about it, but he also seemed to have some sort of fiery determination in his eyes.

"What are you looking for?" I asked him He didn't notice at first before eventually turning to me.

"Hmm?" he said. I repeated my question. "Oh, nothing. I'm just trying to remember the sky. It's funny because… well I obviously know the sky, but it still somehow seems new. Having nothing but blackness before a day ago causes you to think funny things." Robin chuckled to himself and continued looking up. Catching the hint to leave Robin to his ponderings, I went over towards the smell of cooked fish. Jason and Sully had begun to wake up at this point and had gathered around the fire as well.

"We'll need to make way to the capitol. The exalt needs to hear of this as soon as possible." Chrom was saying as I approached.

"If you would like, milord, I can ride ahead to the capitol and tell her now." Frederick offered as he continued to spin the fish on the spear. Chrom shook his head.

"We might was well all go together. Ylisstol is only about two miles away as it stands now. we could arrive within the hour if we walk quickly." Chrom's reasoning was cut short by the grumbling of his stomach. "But first, we should eat. Is that going to be enough for all of us?" Chrom gestured to the two fish on the spear. Frederick shook his head.

"Frankly no, milord, but it was all that I could catch." Chrom sighed and turned to the rest of us who has assembled at that point.

"Well, eat what you can I suppose."

The walk to Ylisstol was in fact brief, just as Chrom said it would be. After a little while, we began to see the peaks of the city's highest buildings on the horizon. By midday, we reached the streets.

"I wonder if that little jewelry shop still has that bracelet!" Lissa said excitedly to Chrom as we entered the main square. Chrom laughed as he was pulled along by his sister to go see. Frederick sighed and went after them, leaving the rest of us on our own.

"Well I sure as hell ain't waiting around for them. I'm going to the base to train some." Sully said, turning her horse in another direction and galloping off, leaving us quite literally coughing in the dust. Virion tried to pursue her on foot, much to Sully's anger, and she picked up the pace. Virion ran all the more quickly. For a frail guy like he was, he sure could run. Robin looked about aimlessly and eventually went to the jewelry store with the others. I looked between Jason and Maya, and we just stood in the center of the square.

"...Well shit, I don't have any idea what to do right now." Jason said as he glanced around. "We need them to at least tell us where the base is before we head off on our own. It's too late to follow Sully so…" Jason looked over and started walking to the little store that Lissa was still gawking at. Maya shrugged and followed. By the time we got there, Lissa was wearing a new bracelet.

"Doesn't it just look beautiful?!" Lissa said gleefully as she let the sun shine on it.

"It looks great sis." Chrom said with a warm smile, giving his sister's hair a light ruffle.

Lissa protested as Chrom turned to pay the owner. "How much is it?" He asked politely.

"No, no, by all means! It's free for you Prince Chrom." The shop owner tipped his hat in Chrom's direction and gave a warm smile. Robin looked like he just got sucker punched.

"...P-Prince?" Robin said, his eye twitching with the sudden realization his behavior had been subpar. Robin kneeled to the ground so quickly that you could hear his knees hit stone. He bent down at Chrom's feet and began apologizing profusely. "Prince Chrom! I'm so sorry! Please forgive my rudeness. It will never happen again! Would you like all o-" Chrom cut him off as he glanced around realizing the attraction that Robin was making.

"Relax Robin, I was never one for courtesy anyways. You have been more than a help already. Get off the ground. Please." Robin stood, embarrassed, and coughed a little into his hand.

"R-right. Of course." He regained his composure and glanced around the square.

"Robin, if you wouldn't mind coming with me to meet with my sister, I ask that you do. You as well Frederick. And of course you Lissa." Robin nodded quickly and gathered himself, while Lissa just laughed at him. "As for you three," Chrom said, turning to us. "While you were most certainly a help, we can only have so many going to see my sister in this serious of a matter. I ask that you would return to our base. It's located a bit West of here just on the outskirts of town. I'm sure you'll be able to find it from there. It stands out." Chrom nodded to us and gestured for the others to follow him. As they all left, Jason Maya and I were once again left alone.

"So… you guys want to shop?" Jason said half heartedly. Maya looked at him.

"We don't have any form of money whatsoever." She said. As Jason and Maya continued to converse I was drawn across the square to a shop with a music note on the door. It had simple decoration, just a brown wooden building that seemed ready to fall over, yet it also seemed classy. Odd. I continued to eye it until Maya pulled me back to reality.

"Right Matt?" I snapped back.

"Huh?" I said. Maya repeated what she had said.

"Jason totally will have a thing for Inigo." She said. I gave her a blank stare before answering half heartedly.

"Sure." I said, looking back at the shop. I felt drawn to it somehow. Without waiting for my friends I began to walk towards it. Before I knew it I was at the door, and as I opened it a little bell went off.

"Hmm?" I heard someone from behind the desk. They stopped what they were doing and looked up at me. It… It was an Anna. I don't really know what I expected, but not this. This Anna was wearing simple village clothes and her hair was unkempt. Despite that, it was still definitely an Anna. "Hi there!" She said, waving me in. "Welcome to the Secret Seller Music Shop! See anything you'd like?" That was a good question. The answer was yes, but my pockets had a good rebuttal for that answer. I looked around. There were brass instruments, string instruments, percussion, anything really. But my eyes eventually settled on a piano lying in the corner of the store. Completely taken, I walked over to it and sat down. The keys were polished and shinning. Just as I was about to start playing a random little melody, Anna stopped me with a slap on the back of my hand.

"I'm afraid I can't let you play this piano until you've paid for it. Store rules." She smiled. but it lacked the same warmth it had when I walked in.

"Um…" I started, with no clear goal. The more I sat there the more I knew I wanted this piano. No, wanted wasn't strong enough a word. "How about I play you a song?" I smiled. Anna blushed a little bit and began to protest but I just jumped in anyway. Staring down at the keys I began to play as things came to me. I couldn't decide on a song, until eventually I got to I'm Yours. Dont ask me how. I don't know.

_Well you dawned on me and you bet I felt it,_

_I tried to beat you but you're so hot that I melted,_

_I fell right through the cracks, and_

_now I'm trying to get back!_

_I grew a bit more confident as I played the notes louder. I heard someone come in but I didn't look behind me._

_Before the cool done run out I'll be givin it my bestest,_

_But nothing's gonna stop me but divine intervention,_

_I reckon it's again my turn, to win some or learn some_

Just before I got to the chorus, Anna stopped me by grabbing my wrist. She looked me dead in the eyes and simply said, "Thats all fine and dandy, but store rules are store rules. You cannot have the piano or use the piano unless you buy it."

"I'll buy it then." Said a new voice. Anna and I turned. Chrom stood just inside the shop. He pulled out a gold purse from his pocket and tossed it to Anna, who let go of my wrist in surprise and in an attempt to grab the gold. Some of the contents spilled and gold coins rolled everywhere. I began to protest.

"I-It isn't a problem Chrom, you don't have to-" He raised his hand and cut me off.

"I owe you for your help over the last day. This is the least I can do. Besides, you seem to be enjoying yourself. Why would I take that joy away from one of my men?" Chrom finished, smiling at me. One of his men…? Could I really be considered that already? Chrom walked up beside me and put his hand on his chin. "Now the real question is though, how can we get this back to the base…"


	7. There's No Business... (Jason)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A first performance for the Shepherds.

I stepped out of the butcher’s shop with a live chicken cradled in my arms.  He originally hadn’t let me take it out, but after some haggling (and bribing with the money Lissa had given me when she came back), the butcher gave me the bird.  I looked down at her, and she cood.  “I think I’ll name you Henrietta.”  She crooked her head at me and squawked.  I took that as approval of her new name.  “What d’ya say, Henrietta?  Shall we go find our other friends?”  She struggled slightly, but I held her wings down.  Ylisstol was a beautiful city, but I didn’t think it would be the safest place for a lost hen.  

The most interesting thing about Ylisstol was that: its beauty.  I had grown up in New York, and for me the beauty of a city was asphalt, concrete, and glass. But I didn’t have any disillusionment about what small town or medieval time cities were like.  I expected open sewers, or at the very least grime and muck.  But there was none of that.  The city was everything a Disney princess movie aspired to have: tan and grey bricks, all in perfect order, color, laughter, and gorgeous people.  And that’s why I was so shocked when I saw a mass of peasants and soldiers pushing a grand piano across the square.  The sight was so profoundly wrong that I nearly dropped Henrietta.  She clucked at me as I approached the crowd, pushing my way through.  And at the center of the group of 20 or so people that were pushing or gawking at the pushers was Matt.

“Matt.  What the hell are you doing?  You...That’s...You can’t just take a piano!”  I gestured at the crowd.  “And why are you all helping him with a stolen piano?”  They just gawked with confused faces.  “I swear to-”

“Actually, I bought it.”  Chrom stepped out from the people around the piano.  

I blushed red, clutching Henrietta to my chest in an attempt to escape embarrassment.  “Oh...I’m sorry milord…”

Chrom chuckled.  “Don’t worry.  Just start pushing.  We have a long way to go.”  He gestured at the hill leading up to the castle and barracks.  

“Great,” I mumbled, “More physical labour.”  I glanced at Henrietta, before putting her in my bag and closing it almost all the way.  “Hold on sweetie.  This will be bumpy.”

~~~~~~~~

I laid on the ground, trying to contain Henrietta, while Maya and Matt laughed their asses off as my expense.

     "Stop laughing at her!  She's just an innocent chicken!"

     Matt snorted.  "It's not her we are laughing at.  Why would you ever just kidnap a chicken?"  This prompted another bout of laughter from Maya.

     I pouted.  I didn't kidnap her.  She came entirely of her own volition.  My friends wouldn't understand, though.  "Whatever.  Let's get dressed, Chrom said he wanted us at dinner soon.  We have to meet and greet, all that."  

     I picked up the strange clothes set on my bed that passed for Ylissean formal attire.  "Next problem: How do we get this on?"

     Maya cracked her knuckles, and Matt frowned.

     It took several tries to get the clothes on.  Still marveling at our new bodies, we barely even knew the lengths of our own limbs.  But, after much kicking and screaming, movements resembling the dressing rooms of the theater back home, we were ready for high society.  Matt and I were clad in simple enough dark blue shirts and pants, with weird black vests embroidered with gold embellishment.  Maya was in a long grayish dress, which would've looked fantastic if we hadn't been confused that it was a good foot longer than the dresses we had seen Maya in before.  

     "This feels..."  I mumbled out.

     "Horrible,"  Groaned Maya.  "This dress is so tight and still too big!  I think my boobs are being popped."

     Matt sighed.  "That's a lovely thought.  But we have to act nice; the Shepherds must've given a lot for us to have these clothes."

    I nodded.  "We should really get downstairs.  I mean, I don't know if we're late, there aren't any clocks.  But we might be, and I don't want to be late to our new lives."  Henrietta cooed, and I smiled.  This was all quite exciting.

“Alright, tips for surviving in the social Shepherds circle.” Matt said, parading around the room, playing with his cuff links and straightening his hair. “Tip one: Do not go to seperate tables. We need to stick together. We are all we know.” Maya and I nodded silently.

“Tip two: Be engaging. Make the people at the table like us. Crack jokes, laugh at theirs.” Again, a rather common thing. “And finally tip three: Do not get on anyones bad side. This is the most important. This whole army is built on trust in the game. We can’t risk breaking that. I don’t care if you don’t like then, make them like you. Sound reasonable?” I nodded, and Maya grumbled something I couldn’t make out.

“What was that?” Asked Matt with fake innocence.

“I said you’re full of shit. If I don’t like someone I want to do something about it.” Maya said.

“You can. You can be nice.” Matt said, smiling with that shit eating grin of his.

Maya rolled her eyes and whispered to me. “I’m not being nice to people I don’t care about. Agreed?” I laughed a little.

“Sounds good to me.”

“Alright we need to get a past set straight before we are asked about it. To start, let’s say we’re from-” Matt began but was cut off by the ring of the dinner bell at the front of the grounds.

“Shit.” I muttered under my breath. “Ok then.... who remembers their improv?”

~~~~~

       Virion flashed a smile across the table where I sat, weaving yet another outlandish (and annoying) tale.  "And that's when I discovered the evil dragonmancer, who was summoning dragons to devour maidens like yourselves."  

    Maribelle gasped in mock horror, while Sumia furrowed her brow, genuinely worried for the safety of said maidens.       

     Vaike interrupted Virion's story, bodily pushing the blue haired man out of the way.  "That's nothing compared to what The Vaike did when he rescued the seventeen captive princesses from the bandit infested sewers of Ylisstol."

     I groaned.  Straight boys, I thought to myself.  My biggest nemesis.

       Sumia's face was slack jawed, in abject horror to the tribulations that the two men said to have suffered.  Maribelle tutted.  "Princesses?  Did the Vaike happen to take their names?  Perhaps I know them?  Surprising that a princess other than my dear Lissa was even frequenting Ylisse, but I would love to meet them~"

     I chuckled to myself.  Maribelle was prissy, sure, but she could be dreadfully blunt when necessary.  I respected her.

    Vaike stuttered.  "Oh- Well- You see, they turned out to be Risen, and the Vaike had to fight them off with my bare hands and-"

     Virion's shrill voice interrupted Vaike.  "You haven't even fought the Risen, you uncultured dolt!"

      "You call the Vaike a dolt, but he doesn't even know what that means.  How can the Vaike be something he doesn't know, huh?"  

       I sighed.  You could practically taste the testosterone.  I looked at Maya across the room.  She was watching the whole thing with a grin on her face.  I mimed vomiting, and she retorted with a pitiful expression and a mouthed 'I'm sorry'.  We had planned to sit together, but someone (Lissa) had insisted that we follow the seating chart that someone (Lissa again) had laid out.  Matt was sitting with Chrom, Robin, Lissa, and Frederick.  The royals.  I could tell he was uncomfortable: a glance over and I saw him sweating profusely and fiddling with his cufflinks under the table.  Maya was with Sully, Miriel, Stahl, and Ricken.  What was a small child doing at a dinner party?  It was way past his bedtime, for sure.  And he was definitely underage for the mead he was drinking.

Sumia shook her head.  “I don’t know if I can take another one of these stories!  Why don’t we have the new recruit introduce himself?”

I blinked.  I had no good cover story.  “Um...I’m  Jason and...Chrom took in me and my friends.  Not much to tell.”  I laughed nervously.

Sumia smiled.  “Okay!  I’m Sumia, and I’m a footsoldier...in training.  Maribelle here is a troubadour, Vaike one of our fighters, and Virion an archer.  I hear you are an archer as well.”

I nodded.  It was weird, meeting these people that I already knew.

“So what about you...Jason, was it?”  Maribelle turned towards me.  “Where are you from?”

“Oh...I’m really just from nowhere.  Me and my friends we...we’re just typical nobodies.  We made a living with song and the occasional mercenary job, before Chrom took us in, that is.”

Maribelle smiled, wanly.  “In my experience, nobody is a nobody.  You must have a family name of some kind.  You look to be of mannered bearing...perhaps you are from a servile family to Ylisse.  If that, though, I would’ve known you.”

“Umm…” I stuttered out.

Virion turned towards me, ready to interrogate.  “Are you perhaps from Valm?  Not that I am from there but I have some...friends and family there.  Perhaps I would know your family name?”

The four at my table stared at me expectantly.  I could feel prickly sweat on my hairline.  I didn’t know what to say, not without incriminating myself.  “Umm...Well I’m from a rather...poor family...but I was taken in, along with Matt, Maya, and another friend of ours by a man named Vincent.  He taught us to fight, and, in our free time, how to sing for some extra money, I guess.  Our fourth member...passed away.  It was quite traumatizing.”  

Sumia gasped.  “I’m so sorry!”

“The Vaike wonders why, if you are such singers, you haven’t sung.”  The blond man raised an eyebrow.

“Oh...well...I don’t know.  I guess this dinner just got in the way.”  I blanched.  I couldn’t sing on my own, at this table.  Hopefully they wouldn’t ask me too.

Maribelle grinned.  “Why don’t you perform for us, right here?”  She was on to me.

“Oh...um...I couldn’t!  I’d disrupt the dinner.”

Sumia put a hand on my shoulder.  “I think everyone would find it lovely!”

All eyes were on me.  I started to feel my heart beating in my throat, but there was nothing I could do.  I took a deep breath and-

I was saved by the bell.  Frederick rang the dinner bell that had called us all down, and Chrom stood up, cleared his throat, and spoke.  “Hello fellow Shepherds! I’m glad we could all settle down tonight for this lovely meal prepared by the royal cooks for this occasion.  We feast tonight because tomorrow, at first light, all of us will head out, weapons ready, to the border with Regna Ferox to enlist soldiers for our armies in order to counteract the Risen threat that encroaches on our beautiful lands.  Joining us in this endeavour are four new recruits: Robin, Maya, Matthew, and Jason.  Robin, our new tactician, has quickly gained our trust as he helped to lead us home safely over the last two days.  Maya, Matthew, and Jason are all members of a travelling band of mercenaries known as the Naga Quartet.”

“There’s only three of them. The correct term would be trio.” Miriel called out from her table, fixing the position of her glasses.

Chrom frowned.  “Unfortunately, immediately before their joining of us, their fourth member died in an accident.”  Miriel seemed ashamed, but Chrom continued.  “Anyways, these three talented warriors have agreed to perform for our troops tonight in order to rouse spirits for tomorrow’s action.  You three may take the stage!”  He gestured to a hastily built pile of lumber with our piano on top.

I looked at Matt, and then at Maya.  They looked at each other.  This was not part of the plan.  We did not agree to perform.  This was definitely not in Matt’s lousy three part plan on success with the Shepherds.  I slowly stood, along with my friends, and walked as quickly as I could towards the stage, hoping no one would see my face.  Oh god this was going to be embarrassing.

Matt leaned against the piano.  “What do we sing?”, he whispered.

Maya growled at him.  “We have nothing prepared!  What were you thinking, making that agreement with Chrom?!”

Matt seemed confused.  “I made no agreements....”

“Then why are we up here?”

“I don’t know, why are we up here, Maya?”

“The fuck should I know?”

I frowned.  The crowd was getting impatient. They could go on like this for weeks.  I sat down on the piano bench and, suddenly, my hands started moving.

Maya and Matt looked at me.  They recognized the tune I was playing, but they had no idea how I was playing it.  Neither did I, to be frank.  Out of the three of us, I have always been the worst at piano, and the only things I could play before were ‘Heart and Soul’ and the theme for Jurassic Park.  And here I was, flawlessly playing a song I had never even looked at sheet music for.  While they gawked, I opened my mouth and sang the first stanza of the song.

_There's no business_

_Like show business._

_Like no business I know~_

The audience seemed confused, whispering back and forth.  They had never heard showtunes, I realized.  I smiled.  This would be fun.  Matt realized what was going on, snapped out of his reverie, and sang out the next part of the song.

_Everything about it is appealing,_

_Everything that traffic will allow,_

_Nowhere could you get that happy feeling,_

_When you are stealing that extra bow~_

His tenor rang out clear over the crowd, and Maya followed.

_There's no people like show people, they smile when they are low._

_Even with a turkey that you know will fold,_

_You may be standing out in the cold,_

_Still you wouldn't change it for a sack of gold,_

_Let's go on with the show~_

She looked at me, perplexed.  I understood.  No way she had memorized those lyrics back home.  She was good at learning songs, but not good enough to memorize a song she’d heard twice that she didn’t care about.  We all came in together, now, pushing past our confusion.

_Yesterday they told you would not go far,_

_That night you open and there you are,_

_Next day on your dressing room they've hung a star,_

_Let's go on with the show!_

I smiled.  We were doing it, regardless of lack of knowledge or skill.  And it sounded pretty damn good.

_Let's go~_

_On~_

_With~_

_The~_

_Show~!_

Our audience of the Shepherds looked at us, confused.  But then, a faint clapping started, Ricken sitting up in his chair and grinning.  Lissa followed, then Robin and Chrom, and then the whole room was clapping.  I blushed.  They liked it. I think.

~~~~~

Maya glared at me.  “How the fuck did you learn to play piano?”

I shrugged.  “No clue.  How’d you two learn ‘Annie Get Your Gun’?”

“Touché,” Matt said.  “Other than that, how was your nights?”

“Eh.  I listened to Vaike and Virion have a testosterone-off and then scrambled to come up with an alibi for where we came from and what we do.  Virion and Maribelle were intense: they kept grilling me for a family name.”  

Maya laughed.  “You should’ve just made one up.  Though it was hilarious watching Vaike and Virion fight it out.”  I frowned.  It was embarrassing, I thought to myself.  I hated being in the middle of man-offs like that.

Matt sighed.  “My night was horrible.  You’d think it would be fun to sit with these video game characters I loved, but it wasn’t at all.  Chrom kept awkwardly trying to start a conversation, Lissa kept going to other tables, Frederick just stared at me coldly, and Robin had no idea what the hell was happening because, like us, he arrived here a day ago.  What about you, Maya?”

She grinned.  “I spent the entire party talking to Sully!”  I groaned.  Maya had fallen in love with Sully the moment she got the game.  “She’s so cool; did you know that she was raised by some of the best fighters in the realm?  And she kept telling me all these stories, so I think she thought I was like...into her, you know?”

“Maya,” I said.  “You are into her.”

“No I’m not!”

Matt nodded.  “Yeah you are.”

Frowning, Maya changed the subject.  “ Well my table was fun. But I still want to know,” Maya’s tone shifted to a whisper, “why did we know the words to that song? I mean, I knew what it was but I never really… knew it I guess. What happened?”

Matt shrugged, but his expression became more serious.  “I don’t know, but it was helpful however it happened.”

That wasn’t enough for me.  “I just want to know how it worked?  Like is it a brain thing?  Or magic? Or-”  

Maya cut me off.  “Jason, stop being a nerd.”

I sighed, and Matt chuckled.  This wasn’t necessarily bad, regardless of what was happening.  “Whatever.  I’m just curious, that’s all.”

Maya stuck out her tongue.  “Nerd.”  She teetered slightly, and I saw her face slacken.  At the same time, I felt a wave of exhaustion sweep over me.  Looking at Matt, I could see he was experiencing the same feeling we were.  

I blinked, my eyes feeling heavy.  “Are...are you guys feeling this tired too all of a sudden?”

Matt nodded, leaning against the table to stay upright.  “I’m gonna-”

“-go to bed.” Maya furrowed her brow at their synchronization, but seemed to give no other thought to it as she slumped down into her bed.  Matt did the same in his bed, formal clothes still on, and I had one last fleeting thought before my head hit the pillow: where was Henrietta?

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N:  
> Jason- This took a while due to a lot of shit happening for me, between work, work, and, oh look, more work. I hope you enjoy, and I just want everyone to know that Henrietta is based off of a real live chicken.  
> Also because Maya is out doing some important partying and Matt is lazy, we’re just having the person who wrote the chapter write the a/n from now on.


	8. Omelettes (Matt)

I lay awake, staring into nothingness. The room had gone pitch black after we had blown out the candles and I could hardly see the wood supporting Maya’s bed above mine. I sighed. It had been a surprisingly long day today, despite the lack of a battle. I rolled to the side and stared at the wall I couldn’t see. It was beginning to occur to me that I could easily die here. I think about these sorts of things in bed, I really just can’t help it. It’s like a nightly routine at this point. It’s always just a thought nagging at the back of my mind saying, “Hey Matthew, don’t forget you could always get into a car accident on your way to school! Have a good nights rest!” And then the voice smiles playfully as I lay awake, eyes wide open, fearing death. It was odd, sure, but I got used to it. It was different now though. Replace a car with a sword, or damn, fire even in this world, and it’s essentially the same thing.

I rolled over again and looked upwards again. This was all so messed up. I just wanted to write music and BAM, war. But there was nothing I could do at this point. I knew that much. I would just have to roll with the punches. Or sword swipes. Or flames- ok that was enough. Close your eyes and sleep. … Nope not working ok plan b, sing in your head.

_It’s a small world aaaaafter aaaaa-_

Ok no, not that song. Never that song. Ugh. Just go to sleep already brain! But, of course it wouldn’t. I stayed there for hours, just looking at nothing, thinking nothing, and not being able to sleep. What happened to that tiredness from moments ago? Then, somewhere around 4 A.M. (as far as I could tell), I finally went to sleep.

_______________________________________

 

“Are you awake now?” said a gentle voice in front of me. I slowly opened my eyes. I was floating in an endless sky of green. Well. Thats not normal. I’ll accept anything at this point though. Then my eyes began to register the form in front of me. Naga was in the same attire as she was when she got us from the campgrounds. A simple white dress, embroidered with gold in a flower like design. I didn’t know enough about flowers to tell what kinds though. Her hair was falling freely around her, and she also had the same defiance of gravity that I did at the moment, so her hair just followed as she moved, suspended in the air.

“Are you awake?” She repeated her question. I stood there, well, that is I floated there in silence. Eventually I recovered and nodded. Was this a dream? It felt real enough. No harm in asking.

“Um… is this a dream?” I said, rather bluntly.

Naga shook her head. “Not quite. This is a separate dimension that I have set aside for chatting with you.” The goddess smiled kindly and gestured around her. “I control the entirety of this space. Would you prefer a different color?” She seemed truly concerned.

“No, green is my favorite actually.” I smiled back. Then the small chat was cut.

“Very well then, down to business. The outside interference that I told you about previously has appeared.” The goddess looked at me sadly. “I already told your friends this, but if I can sense their presence, then there is a possibility that Grima can sense your presence. So there stands a possibility that… he would try to be rid of you already.” She looked at me worriedly.

“...Assassins?” I asked. She nodded grimly. Damnit. Why did it have to be assassins? Now I’ll be eating lunch one time when suddenly, out of no where, a hooded man comes up screaming “ASSASSINO!!!” as he stabs me in the neck with a blade on his wrist. Ok, highly improbable, but still. It was apparently a possibility at least.

“I just found that I should warn you. Always be prepared. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them now. I may not have the strength to call you again like this at a later time.” She floated gently, waiting for what I would say. I didn’t have questions about this… but I did about other things.

“Ok, question one. Will we ever go back? Like, if we are alive of course, will we be able to go back to our home world?” The goddess bit her lip.

“Well… unfortunately no. I will not have the power to transport you and your friends across universes once more. In addition it may cause you harm traveling dimensions so often. However, this may only be because Grima stirs. I cannot say for sure.” She said. Alright, that’s fair enough. I was expecting her to just say no and move on.

“Alright, question two. Are my friends having this… dream thing right now too or just me?” I asked.

Naga smiled a little. “Actually I finished with them before you. That’s why it took you so long to fall asleep. I can only speak with one of you at a time.” Oh ok then. Sure. I’ll be your shining warrior on 3 hours of sleep, sounds great. For a goddess her powers seemed rather... limited if you ask me. Speaking of which…

“Don’t take offense but… what are you? Are you a goddess, or just a spirit? It’s never really stated in the… games.” It felt odd to call them games now.

“I am not a goddess, though I certainly have become akin to one. I am known as the Divine Dragon. Long ago, that’s all that I was. But my spirit lives on through this form. I have been tasked to guide humanity against the evils of Grima.” She said, rather matter of factly. Well that’s cool. One last thing.

“I have one more request.” I said.

“Go on.”

“Give me back my cross.” I hadn’t taken it off since I was eight years old. I felt naked without it. Plus, it would be a nice reminder of the time were, you know, I didn’t have to kill people on a daily basis. I knew it was coming, sooner or later. Every day will end up having a kill in it. It’s just a matter of time.

The goddess, spirit dragon, whatever, tilted her head to the side and actually chuckled to herself a little. Eventually she just waved her hand and I felt a familiar chain around my neck.

“Thank you.” I said, grasping the metal at the end. “Thank you.”

“My pleasure, Matthew. I wish you luck. May you be brave and may you endure.” Naga said. She raised her hand, and I felt myself slowly drift away into the darkness of real sleep.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Rise and shine!” Said someone who was way to enthusiastic for how early it was. I ignored it. Maybe it would go away.

“HEY.” Said the voice even louder. Just ignore it Matthew. I curled up some more under my covers.

 

*SPLOOSH*

 

Wet. Cold. Cold and Wet at the same time. Not cool. Actually, too cool. I jumped up in my bed, hitting the bottom of the bed above me. I panted, trying to register and recover from what just happened. On the side of my bed stood Lissa, barely containing her laughter as she held the now empty bucket with both hands. I stared at her, apparently with a funny look on my face, because something here was just the funniest thing to her. I failed to see it.

“Hey come on! If you could see your face right now, you would be laughing too!” Lissa exclaimed as she skipped out of the room. What. The. Hell. There are few things in life I hate. On the top is waking up early. Above that is waking up early by force. I sighed and got out of my bed. The bedding was soaked. I’d have to throw it in the dryer when I get the… oh… oh right. Damnit. I gathered up the bedding and looked around the room. In the corner was a large window. Outside the window was a string that connected to another part of the building. Shirts, and various other articles of clothing, were already hanging up, blowing in the breeze. I reached out the window and spread the sheets and blanket out as best I could. Once I was happy with my job, I got dressed in the clothes I had arrived in and went down to breakfast.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The refectory was abuzz with chatter, as glasses clanged and silverware hit dishes. Sitting at one table were Sully, Maya (She totally did have a thing for her), and Miriel. I couldn’t tell what they were discussing, but they seemed to be having a good time. Jason sat with Robin, Chrom, and Frederick, sipping tea and watching nervously as Ricked chased around his pet chicken with a suspicious green book. Maribelle, Sumia, and Lissa all sat together as well, drinking tea and having a ladylike chat. Well, Maribelle was, Sumia and Lissa were more bumbling on, pretending they knew what they were doing. Virion wasn’t down yet. That left…

“No, really, the Vaike took on eighty men with his bare hands! Once I took out two of them, the others just got the good sense to run!” Vaike was chatting with the cook.

“Sure Vaike. I believe you. Pass me those eggs please?” The cook turned around. My god. It was Stahl, in all his aproned glory. This could be fun. Stahl was a nice guy right? Operation: Make Friends, commence! I walked over to one of the stools set up near the kitchen.

“Hey, I don’t think I’ve met you two yet. My name is Matthew.” I extended my hand in greeting as I sat down. Stahl began to reach for it but Vaike got in first.

“Hey there!” his hand slapped into mine like a bus, with the grip of a cobra. “The name’s Vaike, but you can call me Teach. Teach here is gonna show you how fighting’s really done!” He said, way to happily for comfort. He finally let go of my hand. I could practically hear it gasping for air in a futile attempt to save itself. Geez, had he fractured a bone?

Stahl had his hands full at this point, but he raised the pan he was holding up in acknowledgement. “Hi! My names Stahl. Sorry, I can’t really shake your hand right now, but it’s a pleasure to meet you!” He smiled warmly. Well thats nice. “Any minute now, this omelette is going to be done. Here, take a plate.” Without moving his arms, he lifted one foot from the ground and put it under the top plate in a stack next to him on the floor. Sticking out his tongue slightly in concentration, he flicked his ankle, sending the plate flying into the air. I didn’t even have to move. The plate fell right in front of me. I caught it and set it down.

“Neat trick.” I said.

“Thanks! You learn these things when you cook for a while.” He said happily. To be frank, this didn’t seem like the kind of thing a chef learns to do but… he looked so damn happy I couldn’t really bring it up. “Here you go!” He said, as he slipped the omelette off of his pan and onto my plate.

“Thank you.” I said. I picked up a fork from a nearby container and began to eat. Just as I was putting the very first piece into my mouth, Chrom stood up and began to speak.

“Shepherds!” He said. He said it with such command and force that even Ricked stopped in his tracks from harassing Jason’s chicken. “We shall be leaving in about an hour for Regna Ferox. As I mentioned to you all, we are going there to request aid in the form of soldiers. This is a more diplomatic mission, and I know we aren’t the best at those…” this prompted a few snickers from some of the people who had been in the Shepherds for a while, “but my sister cannot leave the capitol right now with Plegia knocking at our door. So we ride! Everybody go now and pack your things. We should arrive in Regna Ferox tomorrow.” And with that, everyone began to go their own ways, leaving to pack up their things. I looked back at my omlette. There was no time to finish it. I would make the time. I picked the omlette up with my hands. It burned. A lot. But it was totally worth it. Food is a precious thing.

I walked over to Jason, who was just leaving now that he caught that chicken.

“Well. Guess we’re going.” He said. Yes Jason, thank you for stating the obvious. Thats what I wanted to say, but half an omelette can get in the way of these things.

“Yeth Asen, ank oo for satin ee obvoith.” I said. Jason looked at me, confused.

“What… the fuck did you just say?” He said, laughing a little to himself. I swallowed.

“Don’t worry about it. Lets go.”

\--------------------------------------------

Walking long distances always sucked. Walking long distances with a giant backpack filled with two swords, two weeks worth of food and water, a shield, six elixirs, and a healing stave was another challenge altogether. It would’ve at least been easier without Lissa’s things as well though.

I let out a ragged breath. “Lissa, look, as much of an honor as it is to be carrying your stuff, I’d just really appreciate it if-” My thoughts were obliterated as Frederick stared at me coldly. He was on a horse. This just wasn’t fair. I know I’m new, but come on now. I sighed and continued to truck along. I remembered that it was snowing at Regna Ferox in the game, so we still had a ways to go, but I noticed it was already starting to get a bit colder. Maybe it was just Fredrick. Or the sun starting to go down a bit. Honestly I put my money on Fredrick. Lissa and Chrom had horses too, because they were the royal family. Chrom really didn’t seem to want to ride it, and he complained about it saying he wanted to be with his fellow men in arms, but Frederick insisted for a solid two and a half hours. Eventually Chrom caved. Robin was walking, but because he had nothing to his name other than his bronze sword and thunder tome, his bag wasn’t that full. In fact, he had a book he found in the barracks tucked away in his hood for when we stopped so he could read it. Stahl and Sully were riding together, having a seemingly nice chat until Stahl smiled awkwardly and Sully rested a hand on her spear. Ricken and Maribelle stayed back at the base. Miriel had forgotten something along the way and went back. Vaike was in the lead, shouldering his gear like it was nothing. Considering he had no armor whatsoever, maybe it was. Virion was walking as well, but only after being challenged by Sully, who had wised up to how he reacts to women.

And then there was Jason, Maya, and myself. Maya was directly to my right, fiddling with her two magic tomes as she shouldered her own supplies. She was trying to read the yellow one, the thunder tome, while also maintaining her balance and looking ahead. I tried to read the book over her shoulder but the writing was strange. As I tried to read it, the letters shifted in place, not allowing me to lay eyes upon it. My head began to hurt, and I had to force myself to look away from the book. What the hell? Was this what it was like to be dyslexic? I wonder how it felt to cast magic? Probably pretty cool, but you definitely had to be able to read the book first. So, unfortunately enough for me, no magic. Jason was walking on Maya’s right, and he looked like hell. He had three quivers, each filled to bursting with arrows, a spare bow, and all of Chrom’s supplies. Chrom kept Falchion, of course, but everything else went to the newbies. I could practically see a picture of anime Frederick screaming “n00bs!” and throwing a backpack of supplies at us.

“I’m… so fucking done… right now…” He said, each phrase sounding more and more in pain. Maya grimaced at him.

“Do  you need me to take some of that? I have room…” She asked worriedly. Jason nodded and gestured to a flap on the side.

“Yeah, in there is a backup sword. It’s really weighing this side down. Would you mind?” He asked.

Maya nodded and reached into the flap, balancing her two tomes in her spare hand. “Got it… Ow! Shit!” Maya dropped her tomes and clutched her finger, which was bleeding. “Augh I grabbed the fucking blade!” She said angrily. Jason reached into his bag and pulled out a cloth.

“Sorry. Here.” He offered her the rag, which she took and applied to her finger. Jason picked up her tomes and handed them to her.

“Thanks.” She muttered as she took them.

“No problem. Sorry that that had to happen to you.” Jason said.

“Hey, I’ll take the sword.” I said. Might as well. Maya and I switched places, and I carefully proceeded to extract the sword. Once out, I carefully placed it into the middle of my bag with the other swords and breathed a sigh. “You guys have fun talking to Naga last night?” I asked quietly. This was met with silence, as well as worried looks.

“Assassins. It had to be assassins.” Maya said looking up at the road ahead.

Jason nodded in agreement. “But she also said that there’s a possibility that Grima can’t sense us yet. If that is the case it gives us more time to train up. Then we can assassinate the assassins before they can get to the assassining.”

“Assassining?” Maya asked smiling.

“It’s a word.” Jason said trying to contain his laughter.

“Assassinception” Maya whispered, resulting in some laughter. It felt good to laugh. You don’t think you can really truly laugh again (or at least I didn’t) after stabbing a human being through the chest. I guess you could though. My laughter was cut short as we came across a bridge. I stopped moving.

“Wait, guys.” I said, pulling them back.

“What?” Maya asked.

“This is a battle. I remember this. Out of nowhere there should be-” My words were cut short by a group of risen swarming in from the abandoned fortresses on the other side of the bridge.

Chrom hopped off his horse, “TO ARMS!” Immediately all conversation was replaced with the unpacking of weapons and armor from bags. I slammed mine to the ground and started to pull out my battle equipment. Shield, sword, elixir. That would have to do. I fixed the shield to the shoulder of my non sword hand, and put my sword in my right. I tucked my bag behind some rocks and stood to meet the enemy. Jason and Maya were beside me at this point, weapons at the ready. Chrom pushed past us to lead, with Robin by his side. Robin lingered for a moment though.

“Maya, Jason, help cover our left side. There’s an outcrop of rock over there.” He gestured to a pile of rocks about fifty feet away. “Most of our supplies are stashed there. Think defensive! Pair up and go!” Maya and Jason nodded to him and ran off together.

“Matt,” He said, “I need you to go off on your own. You will need to race to those trees,” He pointed to our right, “Once there, wait for a moment, recover, then go take that fortress over there.” He pointed to a fortress at the base of the bridge. I gulped. I counted at least six risen.

“By myself…?”

Robin bit his lip. “Yes, I’m sorry. It’s up to you. I believe! I must join Chrom.” Robin raced off before I could say another word.

“No use waiting around kid. Get going!” Sully said to me as she rode past, joining the front assault. I guess that was a fair point. I took a deep breath and ran towards the trees.

My first encounter was with a risen mage. He growled at me and began to cast a spell. As I saw the yellow markings fly around him I dove to the right as fire flew over my left shoulder. My left eye became somewhat blinded by the brightness as the fire raced past, and the thread on my shirt began to burn slightly. I quickly put my hand over it and recovered. I ran up to him as he began to start casting another spell. Too late, I couldn’t get there in time. I abandoned the attack and jumped to the side again, narrowly escaping the fire. I swear it burned a few hairs on my arms. As I landed I broke back into a sprint at the mage. One more dodge. This time I ducked, rolling under the fire and swiping at his legs. His flesh was so rotten that the blade went clean through, leaving the mage unable to run as I slid my sword into his neck. One down. I broke into a run for the trees again. I heard a roar to my left and became painfully aware of a sword now stabbed into my thigh. I cried out in pain and dropped to one knee. I turned to face my opponent to see that they had hopped back and were now running at me. I couldn’t move fast enough, but I didn’t have to. The risen jumped up to do a downward attack on me, and I simply raised my sword towards it’s chest. As my sword broke through his chest, the risen vanished into purple smoke and it’s own sword clanked down next to me. I kept running to the trees.

I finally reached them, and leaned against one to catch my breath. Robin said I could wait here a moment. I reached to my best and pulled out my elixir. The blue liquid glowed faintly. It gave me a somewhat uneasy feeling to be honest. But my leg was killing me, and I still had a ways to go.

“Bottoms up.” I said to myself. I uncorked it and drank a third of the bottle. It was sweet, like I was drinking a cake. I could feel it, and even see it at some points, a blueish glow moving through my veins until it finally reached my wound. The blood flowing from the wound glowed blue like the elixir and began to flow slowly. The cut began to stitch itself together and soon enough, I couldn’t even tell it had been there. I stood up. Magic sure is nuts. I thought to myself. Between me and the fortress were two more axe wielding risen. I raised my sword in preparation.

“Alright…” It’s like the elixir, I thought to myself. You just need to do it. I braced myself and ran full force to what could very likely be a rather unheroic death.

  
  


 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N Matt: What? So soon? But what about the maybe once every month if we’re lucky schedule? What about the children Matt? THINK OF THE CHILDREN! Yeah idk it’s late, work got canceled tomorrow. I can post this tonight as soon as Jason’s done editing (hurry up btw) and that should all be good and dandy. We don’t know who is writing the next chapter, but if we are being real if it is anyone besides me we’ll probably be seeing you all in another month. But hey who knows, maybe this is Jason’s/Maya’s good week! :)


	9. Teamwork (Jason + Matt)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A/N- No song this time! So the reason why we had that little POV switch thing in the middle is because...you already see what Maya and I are doing in the first half, and Matt had ideas for what to do in this battle. Since I didn’t want the timing of chapters to be too simultaneous, we thought this would work better. So yeah, anyways, first BIG fight, first interaction with Grima, first notice of changes, first major injuries. I hope you guys all enjoy~ Also, if you have any songs that you would like to see in this fic, shoot us a message and we’ll see if it fits for what we have planned. >:)

“Maya, Jason, help cover our left side!”  Robin pointed to a small hill.  “There’s an outcrop of rock over there.  Most of our supplies are stashed there!  Think defensive!  Pair up and go!”

I nodded.  At Robin’s words, I felt a strange flow of heroism in my veins.  Maybe it was adrenaline, sure, but there seemed to be something other than just smarts in play with the tactician’s ability to order people around.  

“Jason, let’s go,” Maya said, grabbing my arm and running off towards the rocks.  Our backpacks and saddlebags were lying propped up against the stone, and from behind rocks and trees, almost out of thin air, came the Risen, hissing and glowing.  They seemed to come out of nowhere, but they were slow.  We got to the bags first, Maya opening hers to grab her spellbook.  I opened mine for a different reason.

A black and white feathered  head popped out of my leather satchel and looked around.  I could hear the Risen shambling towards us, and I notched an arrow, keeping my bow at my side.  Henrietta looked around and coo’d.  Leaning down, I whispered to her, mumbling to stay inside and keep safe.  She needed no further words, and ducked back into my bag as I closed it up.  I pulled back on my bowstring.  “Okay then, shamble-heads.  Let’s tango.”

The air lit up as Maya blasted a cone of fire in front of her, blasting down several Risen.  I opened fire, aiming arrows for the knees in an attempt to keep the undead from moving any further as Maya finished them off.  We had a height advantage, sure, but there were way more Risen down there than there were people up with us.  

A Risen reached for Maya’s calf hungrily, but I pivoted in time, shooting it through the skull and watching it disappear in a cloud of smoke.  

“Nice shot,” she deadpanned.

I grinned.  “Late and without Starbucks, I know.”  She blasted down a cone of Risen with a searing fire spell again, and I shot down two in rapid succession, before taking out another with a thrown dagger.  The Risen kept coming, but Maya and I could take them down almost as fast as they arrived.

I looked across the field and saw Matt and the others fighting as well, taking down swathes of undead monstrosities.  Hopefully soon we’d have reinforcements, or we might lose the stuff.  I sighed, and shot down another few Risen.  “Hey Maya,” I said, “Where do you think these guys are coming from?”  
Maya sighed.  “I don’t know, hell?”

“No, like where in this field?”

“I don’t know, over there?”  She pointed, and I followed her finger across the field.  I didn’t see anything, but it didn’t matter, because I lost my focus.

“Shit!  Get down!”  Maya shouted, and I obliged.  As I dropped to the ground, I felt the hair on my neck tingle and closed my eyes against the bright flash of a lightning bolt.  Looking down at the scorched Risen, I smelled a faint odor of ozone.

“Maybe next time you could give me more warning when you are shooting lightning?  Or maybe not distract me?”  Maya had nearly burned straight through me.

“Maybe you shouldn’t stand in front of me!”, she snapped.  “You have a bow!  So use it from the back!  You don’t need to throw yourself into danger, nor do you need to ask stupid questions in a fight!”

“Robin said to fight defensively!  How is burning your partner alive fighting defensively?”, I yelled.  “Knowing something important isn’t stupid.”  

Maya groaned.  “Neither is standing in the middle of a horde with a bow!  I can’t believe you!”  

“Stop being so pedantic!”  I shouted back.  She was wrong, and, like always, she wasn’t letting anyone change her mind.  “I hate it when you get like this.  This always-”  I was cut off by a whistling noise, followed by a sharp pain between my shoulder blades, just off center.  “..used…” I fell to my knees. I was suddenly overwhelmed by pain on almost all of my body, but my right arm went numb.  “...to happen…”  I toppled forward, my face smacking against the rock.  I could feel blood wetting my face and my mouth, but I couldn’t move much.  I could hear Maya screaming, but in slow motion and like behind wool.  It was hot, probably from fire spells, and I felt my skin burn and blister, but couldn’t seem to leave my own head.  It was dark.

After what felt like a long time, I felt boots tramp my way.  I could recognize Lissa’s voice, and Chrom’s.  “Is he gonna be okay?”, said Maya, her voice filled with dread.  

“I hope so,” I heard Lissa’s usually cheery voice say.  “But I don’t know.  The hatchet landed very close to his spine.  Chrom, Maya, keep the Risen away.  I need to do some Cleric-ing!”  I could feel hands touching my blood soaked shirt, and then the soft warmth of a healing staff.  And then I felt the pain.  I guess it makes sense, if you are injured but your pain is dulled because your nerves are fucked up, that as it repairs you should feel the pain all over again.  But it was...unexpected.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!”, I screamed as loud as my lungs could scream.  I was suddenly aware of every single thing happening.  All I could think of was the stories of people who wake up during surgeries and get to see their own appendix being taken out.  I felt stabbing pain digging down through my back and fanning out across the entirety of my body.  My right arm still felt numb, but now with pain rather than lack of feeling.  My fingers were spasming and my shoulder felt shattered.  The burns on my skin where Maya’s spells had accidentally grazed were like pain icing on the metaphorical suffering cake: my cracked and blistered skin feeling like I was being flayed alive, much worse than any oven burn I felt as a child.  My throat felt raw and I could taste blood, and it felt like my cheek was ripped open.  Opening my mouth forcefully so as not to bite my tongue off, I screamed again.  

Chrom’s deep voice came from above me.  “Lissa, can’t you stop him from screaming?  It’s drawing the Risen to us!”  

“I’m on it!”  Lissa lifted my head and, after a ripping noise, I felt a piece of cloth jammed into my mouth.  “Okay,” she said.  “You might not hear me, but if you do, I want you to bite down on this hard.  Don’t worry, though, this shouldn’t hurt at all!”  She was lying.  It hurt like a bitch.  But I could feel the uneasy knitting together of flesh, spreading out from where Lissa must’ve placed her staff on my back.  Slowly the pain eased, but I was pretty sure I was biting through the fabric in my mouth.  

I heard Maya’s voice from above me.  “Is he okay?  Lissa?”  She sounded... worried?  I was in incredible pain, but I felt a little better, suddenly.  She was worried about me, and Matt probably was too.  I hadn’t come through to this crazy war torn world alone, I had friends who worried.  I tried to speak, but I was hit again by another wave of pain.

“AAAAGH!”  I screamed, and I heard Lissa and Chrom fussing again.  Lissa touched her staff to my back again, and the pain started going down.  

Chrom shouted again.  “Lissa!  Keep him from screaming better!”

“I’m trying!”

“Stay here with Maya and Jason.  I need to go down there with everyone else.  Maya, can I trust you to keep these things safe, with Lissa’s healing?”

Maya’s voice steadied.  “Sir, yes sir!”  She said, and I thought I heard just a hint of sarcasm in her voice. My vision fuzzed, but I was starting to regain feeling in my body that wasn’t pain.  Lissa pressed her staff against my back again and my stomach turned.  The pain was fading, and even the soreness in my throat from screaming was healing.  This really was magic.  “Uuuuugh”, I groaned out, flopping over onto my back.  I opened my eyes into the bright sunlight to see Maya and Lissa standing over me, like the opening cutscene of the game we were now stuck in.  “Hey guys,” I croaked, “what’d I miss?”

Lissa and Maya grinned and Maya helped me sit up.  “How’re you feeling?”  She said.

I frowned.  “Like I just got axed in the spine.”

Lissa cocked her head.  “You did!”, she said, too cheerfully.

“I know you just woke up,” Maya said, looking behind her.  A groan echoed from below and I noticed groups of Risen heading our way.  “But are you ready to kick some zombie ass?”

I struggled to my feet, wincing with pain before bracing myself on her shoulder.  I smiled, and grabbed my bow.  “I thought you’d never ask.”

***

(POV SWITCH: Matt)

 

As soon as I began to run towards the fortress, I regretted my decision. I have never been what one would consider stealthy, and as soon as I broke into my sprint the two risen turned towards me. Shit. I thought, slowing my pace slightly. No use rushing to my death, now was there? What was Robin thinking? Was I a sacrifice or something? No, I thought, you’re thinking to hard into this. Just go! I cleared my mind and broke into a sprint again.

The risen began to advance on me, splitting to either side of me as they did so. The risen on my right roared, spewing purple smoke everywhere, and charged me. I stopped and readied my sword. The first swing came horrizontally at my chest. I ducked backwards, like I was doing limbo, and came back up swinging and landing a hit on the risen’s arm. He wasn’t even fazed. In the same motion of his first swing, he brought his axe back towards me, aiming for the right side of my stomach. I jump to the left, almost losing my footing on a rock I hadn’t seen. The risen on the left was upon me now too. He brought his axe down and would have smashed my head in if I hadn’t put my shoulder guard up in time. With this risen bearing down on me, the other was free to get some hits in. I had to move. I kicked the first risen away, falling backwards as I did so to avoid a swing that would’ve connected with my spine. I bet that would’ve sucked. I scrambled back to my feet and got back into a battle stance. The risen on the right got all excited again and decided to charge ahead without his friend. I was ready this time. As the risen tried once more for my chest, I shouted in righteous anger (It felt like the thing to do) and swung downward as hard as I possibly could. I cut off the risen’s arm at the elbow, sending his axe to the ground. The risen roared in anger and tried to punch me with his good arm. I grabbed the arm by the wrist and pulled him into my raised knee, sending the risen sprawling down. Quickly, I thrust the sword into it’s chest and watched it disintegrate.

I panted hard, marveling at my work. That was a mistake. I lost focus. The second risen was upon me, and he had just embedded his axe into my side.

“.... Ah…” Was all that I could muster as I sank to the floor. I looked up weakly. The risen lumbered over to me, slowly raising his axe. My hand fumbled at my belt, undoing one of my elixors from the leather and raising it to my lips. The axe was raised, he was close now. Drink!!! I yelled to myself in my mind. I held my head back and chugged like I was die if I stopped. And I was. My side began to glow blue but it was happening too slowly. I closed my eyes and braced myself for the blow. I heard a sickening sound as blade cleaved through flesh… but I didn’t feel any pain. I opening my eyes. A bronze sword stuck out of the risen’s chest. As it dissapated into smoke, Stahl came into view. He just looked around for a moment, looking to see if there were more risen, and then turned to me smiling.

“You’re name was Matthew right?”

“Um… yeah.” I said, trying to maintain my dignity.

“There’s no reason for you to be fighting alone you know right? Why didn’t you have anyone help you?” He asked, tilting his head to the side.

“Robin told me to do this on my own.” I said. I still didn’t know why.

“Ah, I see. Well, I finished my portion of the risen early so I thought I’d look around and see where I can help. You need anything?” Gah, he was just so nice!

“Nah, thanks, I’m good now.” I gestured to my side, which was now fully healed from the elixor. “I should be able to make it to the fortress now.” Stahl nodded and spurred his horse to another portion of the battle. I slowly rose up and began to walk towards the fortress. Out of no where and arrow shot out of the fortress and landed by my foot. I broke into a sprint (I was getting tired of this) and ran back and forth to try and avoid the arrows. The flew by my one by one until I finally managed to reach the fortress. I ducked inside to find a risen archer. This one wasn’t as aggressive, and it just stared at me. It leapt at me after a moment and I slashed it down.

 

“You’re not supposed to be here….” Said a voice in my mind. Oh boy. This wasn’t good.

“Hey Grima.” I said back. Grima laughed.

“How delightful, you’re trying to play this casually.  If I were at my full power I would destroy your mind right now, but I digress. You know this world. You’re not from this world. I will not have you interfering with my plans. I have won this battle once already, and I refuse to lose it this time. Naga may have reversed time for you, but in doing so she is now very, VERY weak. You lost this battle before it began. You should have let my archer kill you. You have no goddess on your side anymore.” So the archer was his. I guess that was the first assassin we would be seeing.

“Get out of my head.” I said calmly.

“If I had more power, I would be making a nice little home for myself here, even if for now I must retreat. Naga’s power taints you and banishes me from your mind. I doubt we shall be speaking like this again. But know this, Matthew. You will die here. And before you do, I’ll destroy everything you learn to love.”

“I won’t let you.”

“I don’t need your permission. Good-bye, performer. This stage is too small to have both you and I on it.” I felt Grima’s essence leave my mind, and it didn’t seem like he’d be coming back. I sighed and looked out the fortress window. Chrom and Frederick had just taken down the Risen Chief.

***

(Jason)

The rest of the battle went similarly to the beginning: Maya and I shot down groups of the Risen, with the exception of Lissa being there to heal us up if a Risen got to close and to keep us focus.  Out across the valley, the Risen groups were starting to to thin.  I saw the giant Risen chief fighting against Chrom, Robin, and Frederick, and as he fell, the others seemed to stop coming.  With their commander down, the Risen dispersed and the ones we took out were not replace anew.  We were winning.

“Hey, you guys, it looks like we’ve cleared the Risen away mostly,” Lissa bubbled, “Should we go down to where everyone else is?  You know, it can’t be good to be separated and all that and-”

An undead moaned behind me, and I pivoted and shot through its skull.  “That’s probably a good idea,” I said.  “Let’s grab what we can carry down, though.”  We tossed a pack or two each over our shoulders and headed down towards the field where the rest of the fighting was happening.  I noticed Vaike gleefully finish off several Risen that Virion had pinned to trees or the ground with his arrows.  Miriel pointed at one of the zombies that seemed to be crawling away, and smiled slightly as it exploded into flames.  Stahl and Sully were racing around on horseback, trampling or spearing any stragglers. Lissa, Maya, and I approached the small hill where Chrom and Robin were standing talking with Matt.  Behind them, Frederick stood guard.

Chrom noticed us standing there first.  “Jason!  It’s nice to see that you’re recovered from that axe.  It looked nasty when it hit.”  
Matt looked worried.  “Oh yeah, I heard you took a hard hit.  How did that go?”

I shrugged.  “I’ve done worse.  And besides, I had Maya’s ‘protection’.”  I elbowed her with the elbow that had been most badly burned.  “Eh, I’m fine.  How did everything fare down here?”

Robin opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by a squeal.  We all looked around, panicked, before realizing the source of the scream.  Sumia.  We all broke into a dash over the hill towards her.  She was the weakest of the our band of mercenaries and stayed back during fights, often tripping over her own feet while marching.  I was pulling my bow from my back, Chrom and Matt had their swords drawn, Maya and Robin had spellbooks out, and Frederick was galloping towards us, Lissa sitting sidesaddle on the back of his horse.  We came over the hill to see...nothing.

“Oh no!  Sweetheart, what happened to you?”  Sumia had her arms wrapped an enormous white horse with…

“Wings?”  Maya raised an eyebrow, standing on the crest of the hill looking down at Sumia bandaging a gash on the pegasus’ side.  “Is that a fucking pegasus?”

I nodded.  Everyone seemed held in awe before Chrom snapped back into the moment.  “Sumia!,” he shouted running down towards her, “Be careful!  That is an unpredictable wild animal!”  As he approached, the Pegasus reared and whinnied.

Sumia touched it gently, calming it.  “Chrom,” she said, “you should stay back.  She’s startled very much right now.  I’ll stay behind with her while you all move on towards Regna Ferox, and make sure she heals well, okay?  I’m not much use in a fight anyways.”  

Chrom looked back at Robin.  The tactician nodded.  “I think that’s best, Sumia,” he said.  “As long as you stay safe here, and make sure to get back to us as soon as possible.  We don’t want you stranded out here in the wilderness.”

She grinned.  “Will do, Robin!  I’ll catch up as soon as I can.”  She turned back towards the pegasus, and our group walked back towards where we came from.

“What was that?”  Matt asked me.

“Um...Sumia getting a pegasus, I guess?”  I replied.

“No, I mean...that’s not how it happens in the games.  Everything is a little bit off right now...I don’t know why but-”

Maya cut in.  “I don’t think you need to fuss, Matt.  Like...we are here, too, and thats very different, so obviously this isn’t just like the game.”

Matt sighed.  “Yeah, I guess.  Just...if the most basic of things is different, what will happen to the rest of the world.”

I didn’t want to think about the implications of this discovery.  It was like the stock market, or the weather, or any other complex system.  The butterfly effect could take hold, and something as simple as Sumia meeting a pegasus in the wrong field could change the course of events to come.  And with such a minor detail being changed already, just days after our arrival to this timeline that wasn’t our own, I was afraid of what changes we would see after we’d been here for weeks, months, or, Naga forbid, even years.

 


	10. Company (Matt)

Have I ever mentioned that I really, REALLY dislike walking? I do. Really, I do. Turns out the battle at the bridge that was a chapter in the game wasn’t even friggin’ close to Regna Ferox. After the battle had cleared up and Sumia stayed with the pegasus, the rest of us continued on towards Regna Ferox. After another six hours of walking the sun began to set in the distance but, according to Frederick, we still had another hour of decent light. I was carrying all the stuff, once again, and I found myself walking alongside Jason and Maya.

“Yeah, no, that sucked.” Jason said. Maya had asked him if he was alright after that blow he received from the hand axe.

“I’m sure. I… I really am sorry about that.” Maya said looking down briefly. “Its just going to take some getting used to, I guess.” She leafed through the pages of her tome as she had earlier that day. Again, whenever I tried to read it, the words started mashing together and flying around, making it unable to be read. But, apparently not for Maya. She looked at it in great concentration, like it was the secret to all things in the universe. Hell, maybe it was. I couldn’t tell. I tuned out from the world around me and looked up at the sky. Something big had happened. Grima had spoken with me. That was an issue. What was more of an issue was that he had threatened to destroy everything I would ever care about. There was no way he had that power yet, right? He was still too weak. Maybe he was just feeling overconfident because he had won once in this world already. Probably. Hopefully. Oh gosh, please, let that be it. I tilted my head back down and looked at Jason and Maya.

Jason kept his eyes forward, not saying a word. He had taken a really serious hit that last battle, and I think it was starting to sink in just how bad this situation was. If Lissa hadn’t been there… well, the Naga Trio would’ve become the Naga Duet.  We’d just stopped being a Quartet, according to our cover story. His eyes never wandered from their point straight ahead. He was too caught up in his own thought to notice me staring at him. Maya’s head was still in her book, but this time she had more stuff to carry on her back. Before we headed out, Jason and I had transferred some things from our bags into hers. Did we ask her to? No. Did she offer? No. But, she didn’t seem to notice or care. I sighed and turned forward again.

I looked back up at the sky. Everything you’ll come to love. I thought. Well, if you’ve got that power right now, do it. I dare you. Smite them or something. I turned back to Jason and Maya. Nothing changed. I smiled. Maybe it was just an empty threat, to get at me and make me worry needlessly. Jason and Maya could handle themselves. I sighed in relief. Maybe I should say something, I thought, tell them about how Grima spoke to me and such. Just as I was beginning to draw breath to say something, Fredericks horse stamped its foot down at the front.

“We shall break for camp here, in this clearing.” He announced.   “Miriel, you shall help me build a fire. Robin and Matthew, please go collect the wood. Stahl and Virion, please hunt for something to eat. Return within the hour. That is all.” Frederick finished his little speech and hopped off his horse. The rest of the Shepherds began to take off their packs and pitch tents in the clearing.

“What can I do, Frederick?” asked Chrom. Frederick reached onto his horse and pulled out a padded bedroll.

“I hope it is comfortable milord. Sleep soundly.” Frederick laid it out, smoothed out a wrinkle on the edge, and gestured to it. Chrom looked around, embarrassed, and politely refused the bedroll.

“I’ll um… I’ll go help collect the food Frederick. I’m fine.” Frederick nodded and went off to build the fire pit with Miriel. I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around I found the cheerful face of our tactician.

“We only have so long Matt. Shall we go searching?” He smiled. He was rather positive for someone without memories. Ugh, why are you so cynical sometimes Matthew?

“Yeah, sure, lets go.” I returned the smile, and together we set out into the woods.

***

“You know? I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Robin said, bending over to collect some pieces of wood that we had chopped from a low hanging tree.

“Hmm?”

“That song that you did the other night in front of everyone. I’ve never heard anything like it before. Or well… I don’t think I have, haha… But anyway, I was just wondering, is it foreign or something?” I silently thanked him for giving me a free out.

“Yes, yes it’s foreign. Quite foreign. We’ve spent a long time travelling...I’m sure we told you.”

“Ah…I see.”

“Why, do you ask?”

“Well… I enjoyed it! It was different but it had a sort of charm to it, I suppose.” Robin tied the branches together and straightened up, moving to another spot. I continued working where I was. “I was wondering…”

“Go on.” I said, chopping at more branches. Robin paused where he was and looked down, fiddling with his jacket.

“Well…” He began. He sighed and continued to chop at the trees with his bronze sword. “Well it’s just that for some reason I… well that is I’d like to learn it.” I froze, and turned to him smiling.

“You… you do? You want to learn how to sing that?” This was like Christmas in… whatever month it was.

“Yes, I would. Would you mind teaching me?” Robin looked at me nervously, like I would attack him for asking.  

Would I mind?, I thought to myself, Fuck no! I had been hoping someone would ask to sing with us sooner or later. According to the game, Olivia has the best voice. I secretly wanted to contest that. I smiled to myself and looked away. It had just hit me. This… was a support conversation. I was reaching C support with Robin. Well at least I thought I was. Maybe I’m still looking at this too much like a game. I need to remember that this has become real life, I told myself, if thing go wrong here, people are going to be killed. The thought sobered me out of my glee a bit. I needed to answer Robin.

“No, no I wouldn’t mind at all. Sounds like a plan!  We can start practicing once we get back to the Shepherd’s base.” I smiled.  Back when this was a video game, I’d had a love for several characters more than many of the others. Robin was one of those characters. It was exciting to get to know him more, but it was also very worrying. What if they died? I couldn’t exactly L+R+Start my way out of their deaths. I had to remember now. They were human beings. I can’t treat them like characters. They have flesh and blood, and they feel pain and emotions. Don’t get too attached, just in case. I warned myself mentally.

“Great! Thanks!” Robin said. He hauled a bundle of sticks onto his back. “Well I think we have enough for the night. Let’s head back!”  He smiled.  

“Sure thing, Robin.”

***

I returned to the campsite just as the final tents were being raised. The sun had gone down and the only light came from Miriel and Maya, who stood as torches in the camp, holding balls of flame in their hands and waiting for us to return with the wood. Suddenly, I was hit with a massive wave of sleepiness. The day’s battle had worn me out, and the thought of a tent was quite inviting. I almost fell over, but Robin propped me back up.

“Whoa, easy there.” He said. I straightened up and stretched.

“My bad. Just…” I yawned for a full six seconds. “...getting really tired. That battle really wore me out.”

“Well, we’re back. Why not turn in early?” Robin then remembered that he was the one who sent me off on my own last battle.. “And uh… sorry if you almost died today.”

I raised an eyebrow, “Almost?” Robin chuckled and clapped his hand on my back.

“I knew you could take it.”

“No you didn’t.”

“No, but the odds were in your favor.”

“By how much?”

“Hardly any, but enough.” I punched him playfully on the arm and we laughed. Well… that was fair enough I suppose. Once we got to where the fire pit had been set up, I lazily rolled the sticks off my back and into the pit.  I walked towards Chrom after finishing my chores.

“Hello, um… sir. Mind if I go to bed early?” Chrom gave me a concerned look.

“Are you alright? I can have Lissa look at you.”  

“Nah, thats fine…” Stop being to damn worried about me, you’ll make me care about you. I thought.  “I just need to sleep.” Chrom nodded.

“I understand. That’s your tent. You share it with your friend Jason.” He pointed down to a tent on the end of a row. “Go on, make yourself comfortable.” I nodded in thanks and shuffled over to my tent. I opened the flap that was the front door and laid down in the first bedroll I saw, my eyes closing and bringing me to sleep.

***

I’d been half expecting a dream to occur, but it never came. Sleep had just completely overcame me, and I couldn’t feel anything as I floated in it’s inky darkness. I awoke to Jason nudging my back with his foot. I rolled over sleepily.

“School doesn’t start till 8:30 on Thursdays…” I muttered incoherently and drifted back off. Jason dropped my bag on me. The armor and weaponry hit my side like a cannonball, and suddenly I was more awake than I had been in months.

I panted. “Was… was that REALLY necessary.” I asked. Jason shrugged.

“Frederick said if you kept Chrom waiting on his march he would do worse.” I swallowed hard and rose from my bedroll. I reached for a cabinet that wasn’t there before remembering I only had one set of clothing to my name anyway. I paused in the center of the room. I guess I was ready.

I stuck out my arms on either side of me. “Ready.” I said. Jason picked up my pack and lugged it to me. He started heading out the door.

“Help me take down the tent.” He said. I walked out into the harsh glare of the sun and looked back at our tent. I had absolutely no idea how it worked. I was never good at these things. Jason walked around and started pulling out spikes that were in the ground at each corner. He then grabbed one side of the tent and looked at me.

“You coming or what?” He asked. I looked around. No way out. I sighed and joined him. I would just do whatever he did, and everything would be good. I waited. Jason didn’t do anything. I looked away from the fabric and looked at Jason.

“Other side, dumbass.” He said. Oh. Alright. Um. Sure. I moved over to the other side and grabbed the fabric. I couldn’t see what Jason was doing anymore, so I’d have to guess.

“Ready?” He asked.

“Of course.” I said. Here goes nothing. I pulled the fabric up as he pulled it down. This caused support beam in the center to tear a giant gash in the side as a result. Jason looked around the fabric at me.

“You’re actually an idiot. You know that right?” He said, laughing  little bit while still giving me the death glare.

“Yup. Let’s not tell Frederick about this. Sound good?”

He sighed, “Sounds good.” We took the tarp off and shoved it into my bag. The support pole was just a propped up log, so we just rolled it on it’s side and into the woods. Jason and I went and joined the rest, who were gathering to begin the march anew. I saw Stahl standing by himself. I had something to say.

“Hey, Stahl!” I said running up to him. He turned.

“Mmm?” He hummed questioningly.

“I just wanted to say thanks for helping me out with that Risen yesterday.”

Stahl laughed. “Ah, that?” He said. “That was no problem. Don’t worry about it. You had them anyways.” Stahl smiled and walked off to talk with Sully. I wasn’t so sure if I did have that, but either way, it was a good thing he was there. I felt a slight pain in my side as I thought about the axe hitting me yesterday. I closed my eyes and breathed slowly. It was stressful. I’m not built for war. The Shepherds began to walk again and I soon fell in line next to Jason and Maya. The next half day proved uneventful. The most entertaining thing to do was watch as the other Shepherds played quick little pranks on eachother. Miriel stole Vaike’s axe and convinced him he had left it back at the campsite, prompting him to start running back for it before Stahl called him back. Sully slowed her horse to go slightly behind Stahl’s and then smacked his horse on the rump, making it go full gallop and causing Stahl to wake up from his nap and almost fall off. Virion tried to hit on Maya again, but she quickly shut him down by saying nothing and continuing to read her tomes. Lissa found a toad and put it down the back of Frederick’s armor. Frederick actually laughed. Maybe because he was bound to serve the royal family, or maybe he could take a joke. Jason got into the spirit of things at one point by cutting off the arrowhead of one of his arrows and instead put a cloth ball on top, then firing it lightly at the back of Vaike’s head, confusing him to no end at what had just happened. Eventually the air began to grow colder, and the sky was filled with clouds. Soon enough, snow began to fall.

“Knowing that you’re walking into a fight and that it’s already this fuckin cold is not a good experience.” Maya said, shivering and wrapping her arms around her chest. “Why the hell does the mage outfit have to be so thin.”

“Archer isn’t much better.” Jason said, also shivering. “It’s like I’m being stabbed with a dagger, y’know, but instead of a dagger, it’s just cold, and like, what the fuck.” He scowled at the ground which was now powdered white with fluffy snow. Now that we had entered the land of cold and misery, the antics of the group became slowly replaced with scowls, curses I’d never heard before (mostly from Vaike), and overall grumpiness. Grump. Game grumps. Crap. I missed those guys. They always made me smile after school. I sighed. School. Friggin school. I missed that place a lot these days, mainly because I’ve spent my time killing people and zombie-like creatures. I already missed the simplicity of my life. All I wanted to do was curl into my bed and have a nice time on my laptop. Maybe I’d be playing Awakening. Maybe a new game had been announced and I’d never know what it was. So many possibilities of things that I would miss. The one thing I worried about most though, was if my family worried for me, or knew where I was. I was honestly hoping that I had just been torn from existence in that world and that no one ever knew me so no one could miss that I wasn’t there. It was the most I could hope for, for now. Maybe one day I can go back, but for now… there was a gate in front of me. While I was drowning in my own thoughts and self pity, we had arrived at the gate of Regna Ferox.

The main knight, whose name I couldn’t remember or care about at this point, stuck her head out from over the wall at our group.

“Who are you?” She said, practically accusing us of murder with her tone of voice. Frederick practically growled at the disrespect shown by this woman.

“I am prince Chrom of Ylisse. I have come to meet with the East Kahn to speak of the new threat that is in our lands.” Chrom said, cool and confident as always.

“The prince of Ylisse? And I’m the queen of Valm! I don’t believe you for one second.” The armoured knight laughed to herself and grinned.

“My lady, please, this is indeed the prince. Show some respect!” Frederick shouted to the  top of the wall.

“Respect my ass! Respect doesn’t need to be shown to bandits. Tell you what. If you can actually fight your way through my battalion, I’ll let you in to see the Kahn.” She said, snarkily.

Jason gasped, “What the hell? That’s a thing? Why is that a thing?” He nervously and slowly began to put on his shoulder pad and bow. I also began to don my shoulder guard and sword, strapping my sword and one remaining elixir onto my belt.

“In Regna Ferox, strength matters more than words. Chrom, as the prince, should have received training befitting of the royal family. Therefore…” I let Jason piece together the rest.

“So… should we kill their guards? Or just… knock them out or something.” Maya asked, holding her tomes in her hands and having two elixirs on her belt. She glanced at her hands, “I don’t think I can knock someone out with fire.” That was a fair point.

“I’d say don’t go out of your way to kill them unless you’re about to die. In which case, it can’t be avoided.” I turned my attention back to the conversation between Chrom and the woman.

“Very well then, ‘prince’. Come forth!” The woman shouted and gave a command with her arm. Instead of spearmen like the game, archers advanced on the walls and began to aim at Chrom. I looked around and didn’t see Sumia at all yet. The archers began to draw back. My mind raced. There are two possibilities. I thought. Either Sumia got held up for some reason, or she’ll be here and possibly get struck by an arrow. Either way is a bad outcome. I looked around, the archers were almost ready to fire and no one was near Chrom. I made a decision. Without thinking I ran towards Chrom. I had put my shoulder guard over my right arm but I was running to him on his left side, so it would be useless. I got just close enough and tackled him, putting my back and shoulders in front of him just in case. Chrom was too vital. He couldn’t die now, even if the chances were low. Chrom looked at me in surprise as we fell to the ground. As we hit, the snow puffed up around us. Chrom stood up and looked up at the walls. The archers had fled from the walls Chrom sighed in anger as the gates rose. He turned back to me, his eyes full of concern.

“Matt, are you-” He cut himself off as he stared at me, open mouthed. I rose on my chest slightly. He continued to stare.

“Wh… what?” I said. “What wro...ng…” My vision began to fade slightly.

“MATT!” I heard Jason scream in worry. I felt around my back. Two arrows had hit me. One was in deep, but I was too out of it to place if it had punctured anything or not. The second was lodged in my shoulder.

“I… I…” I said, growing weaker. Chrom ran and slid into a kneel by my side. It was getting harder to breathe.

“Matt, don’t speak, don’t move.” He said calmly, but with a hint of worry. He turned away. “LISSA!” He screamed, jarring her into movement. She skipped up.

“Yes Chrom?” She said. Then she got a look at me. She grimaced.  “That’s bad.”

“Lissa, please. He saved my life!” Chrom looked at me with panicked and sad eyes. “Don’t… Don’t let him die for my sake!” Chrom closed his eyes in guilt. When he opened them again, they were with steely determination. He rose. “Get this area defended!”, he shouted, “Lissa, take care of him!”.   Chrom knelt to my ear.  “Listen to me.” He said. “You’re going to be ok, I swear it. You’re new and all, but I refuse to let you die after you showed such loyalty.” He sighed. “Now, I’m going to lift you just… be ready for it.” He lifted me up by the arms and placed me over his shoulder. As the last of my vision faded I saw Jason and Maya run after Chrom in worry. Jason had tears in his eyes and Maya’s face already had streaks running down them. My eyes closed and I began to float into nothingness.

***

When I woke up, I was in a building. To my left was a raised window, and outside I could see that it was night time. The snowstorm was in full swing at this point. On top of me were two blankets and a tray. On the tray was a bowl of soup, three notes, and book with a note sticking out of it. I moved up into a sitting position and was immediately regretful that I did. Pain arched it’s way across my back and hurt so badly that I couldn’t even scream. I layed back, clenching my teeth and let out a defeated little grunt. I had never been in so much pain in my life. I hadn’t even felt the arrows hit, but the pain was certainly present now. Alright, well as long as I was stuck here… I picked up the first note, next to the soup.

_**Hey Matt, I made you some soup. You probably know this since you are inside and all, but we won the battle. Now we need to fight in the arena in a few days, but we can only bring a few soldiers. I will fucking kill you if you say you are well enough to fight. You are not. And be careful with this sort of thing again ok? You cannot fucking die, I’ll kill you. Seriously though, we all need to make it through this, for the sake of our sanity ok? Rest well. - Maya.** _

It was simple, but it was touching. I had pieced together that we had won the battle, but I had forgotten about the arena. Don’t worry Maya, I have no plans to participate. I thought. I could hardly move. I wasn’t suicidal. Although, considering my actions earlier maybe that wasn’t clear. I opened the next note.

_**Matt, you fucking idiot. You don’t just tackle our commander and almost die and scare me half to death ok? You just don’t. You cannot die here, I swear, I will end you. You know, after you were dead, so I guess, AUGH whatever it doesn’t matter! You can’t fucking die on me, ok? I couldn’t really take it. AND I DIDN’T FUCKING DIE ON YOU WHAT THE FUCK.  I got stabbed like...fuck you.  I mean that. Recover soon. -Jason. PS- YOU WILL NOT BE IN THE ARENA BATTLE, GOT IT?** _

 

Wasn’t really in the mood to be called a fucking idiot, but ah well. He was obviously shaken up by this. I felt kind’ve bad, having put my friends through so much worry, but at the same time, I had saved the main protagonist’s life. Frankly that was… more important than my own. I put the notes down thinking about what I had just thought. Why was I willing to die for someone I hardly knew at all? I couldn’t really find the answer. Maybe it was just that I already knew that Chrom was the lynch pin for if this world would live or die. I sighed and looked at the last note.

_**Matt. I had never gotten the chance to thank you. Thanks to you I am unscathed, even with the coming battle. Lissa worked tirelessly to get you into a stable condition. Apparently one of the arrows had pierced your right lung, and they were poisoned, but with enough use of a healing stave and elixirs, we managed to close the gap that was made by the arrow. Vaike was the one who pulled out your arrows, and Miriel warmed you up one time when your body dropped to a dangerously cold temperature. Everyone played their part in making sure you recovered. Jason and Maya were by your bedside for a long time, but sadly we needed them for the arena battle. The East Kahn, Flavia, offers you her deepest apologies, and one of Regna Ferox’s servants is looking after you right now. We are about to fight for Flavia to regain her reign of the realm. The rules don’t involve death, so don’t worry about us. Jason and Maya should be fine. Have a good night’s rest. If all goes well, we should have our allies in the coming fights. I will check up on you after the battle. Thank you, again, from the bottom of my soul. - Chrom** _

Damn, those arrows were poisoned? Ferox doesn’t fuck around. As far as I could remember, the arena battle totally had death in it, but maybe it was different for some reason. I looked to my right, were the rest of the room sprawled out. It was a simple little study, probably located high within the castle, and the walls were adorned with candles and book shelves. To my right was a small desk with a lit candlestick, and a small stack of books. My eyes adjusted beyond the desk and settled on a girl sitting in a chair. She was asleep, snoring quietly, with pink hair tumbling about her shoulders. She must be the servant Chrom was talking about. On her lap was a book, a page being kept by her thumb being placed in between the pages. It was probably really late. I didn’t disturb her. I turned back to the tray resting on my lap. I picked up the book and pulled out the note that was wedged in the pages.

_**Dear Matt, I’m sorry that that happened to you. If I had been more aware, I would’ve found a way for that not to happen. Yet, my laziness has cost me, and more so, cost you. As this army’s tactician, it’s my job to try and secure the lives of our troops, but somehow I failed to come up with anything in time for you. I deeply apologize. To compensate for my mistake, I leave you with this book. I must work on strategy for the arena, as apparently there is a new and powerful champion for the West Kahn. You rest well, and know that if anything, your pain has taught me a valuable lesson. - Robin** _

The book was a simple fantasy novel... well, I guess not really fantasy.  It was set in a pretty standard world for Fire Emblem. It had a black cover with a gold trim. I had nothing better to do than read, so I began the book. It started off slow, with a young boy leaving his home town to do business in another country when he is beset on the road by bandits. Forced into a fight or flight situation, the boy decides to fight and gets hopelessly beaten and robbed. From there he begins his journey, working as a mercenary and trying to get revenge at the bandits that had stolen from him. It was calming. I read for hours, learning more about the boy and his story. Eventually I heard a noise next to me. The girl sitting over to my right yawn and stretched, raising her arms above her head. She lazily opened her eyes. When she saw me looking at her, they snapped open.

“Oh!” She said, “You’re awake! Thank goodness! Your friends weren’t sure if you would wake up.” I just looked at her. She suddenly blushed furiously. “S-sorry did I say something wrong? Please stop… staring.” She blushed even more and looked away. Why… did I know this girl? My pain riddled mind couldn’t place her.

“I’m sorry.” I said, my voice cracking with pain. I swallowed, clearing the dryness slightly. “Sorry.” I coughed. “There. Throats clear now.” I looked back up at her. She still wouldn’t look at me. I laughed a little. “What am I… do I look that bad right now?” I was just trying to lighten to mood a little, maybe get her to laugh a bit, but she just turned redder and tried to hide behind her… rather revealing outfit, actually. Why was she dressed like that?

“... Olivia.” She said. Actually, she said something before that, but it was too quiet to make out.

“...I’m sorry?” I said, prompting her to repeat herself.

“My name is Olivia!” She said a little too loudly, causing me to jump. She jumped at me jumping and sank lower into her chair. “Aaaagh this is so embarrassing… Maybe I should just go,” she murmured, “Uuuuh.”  She began to stand up, but she sat back down. “Oh but I promised that I would stay here… Oh dear.” She sat down, distraught at a situation that just didn’t exist to anyone but her. Her embarrassment was spreading to me though, and I began to blush as well.

“I mean… you can go if you want.” Now that she had said her name, I remembered who she was. Weird to see someone before you actually recruit them. I hadn’t expected to see her until we were running away from Plegia and Emmeryn’s death. I never really thought of everyone’s lives before the army. I’m sure they were interesting, especially people like Gauis, Panne, and Tharja, but I had never really thought about it before now. Unsurprisingly, Olivia was embarrassed beyond normal human embarrassment, and as funny and interesting as it was, I felt bad.

“No, I can’t I- Um… I said I’d be here so… I’ll just… let you rest then.” She picked up her book and began to read it, still red as a tomato. She glanced up from her book, saw I was still looking at her, and immediately went back to reading her book. I chuckled to myself and continued to read my own. We sat there in comfortable silence for a long time.

“Uhm…” She began. I was so absorbed in my book that the sound made me jump, making her jump as well.

“Um… sorry you were saying?” I said. She looked to the side of me to avoid eye contact.

“Yes, sorry, it’s just that… I caught someone saying that… you… sing.” She said, the words becoming quieter and more forced as she went on. “And… because I was curious and like… watching and learning from other performers I… thought that maybe… you… could…” She couldn’t get the last bit out. Her eyes were completely shut in fear and she was bracing herself for what was coming.

“... You want me to sing for you?” I said plainly. She nodded quickly, keeping her eyes closed. I cycled through a list of songs in my head, but my still fried brain had trouble deciding. After a few minutes of silence I decided. “Uh.. I’m gonna start.” She hadn’t changed position as all, and nodded again.

_There were bells on the hill_

_But I never heard them ringing_

_No I never heard them at all_

_Till there was you._

Due to my recent escapades of killing zombies as well as other people, my knowledge of songs from Music Man had become strained, but somehow the words came.

_There were bird in the sky_

_But I never saw them winging_

_No I never saw them at all_

_Till there was you_

I looked to see how Olivia was taking my performance, and she had hardly changed position. Slowly though, she was becoming less and less tense. I escalated in volume for the next part.

_And there was music_

_And there were wonderful roses_

_They tell me, in sweet fragrant meadows_

_Of dawn, and bloom_

_There was love, all around_

_But I never heard it singing_

_No I never heard it at all_

_Till there was you..._

The last note rang out and died against the stone walls, and for a moment, Olivia and I sat in silence. Eventually, though, she started to clap.

“I’ve never actually heard something like that before. I’ve heard similar things, but nothing quite like that. You sang it very well, anyway.” All of the previous awkwardness and embarrassment in her voice had disappeared.  Suddenly, she had a thought and blushed again. “The words were a little… um…” Olivia laughed nervously as I thought about what I had just done.

“...Oh… OH!... Oh I’m sorry I didn’t mean… I mean I was just… I mean… singing and all… it just kinda... popped into my head, it didn’t really… y’know... mean anything.” You’re an idiot Matthew, I thought to myself.

She looked out the window and stood up from her chair abruptly. “Oh gods, it’s already morning isn’t it? Oh no, the tournament is today! I need to go get ready to watch. I’m sorry. My shift of watching over you ends here. I hope you get well soon… um… wh-what was your name?” I laughed.

“Matt.” I said.

“Ok, well… get well soon.” She ran out the door. I smiled and laughed to myself. You know? I thought. That made laying here a whole lot more enjoyable. Just as I began to close my eyes, the door slammed open. I looked at the doorway. Jason was standing there.

“Oh Matt thank god, I thought you’d never wake up again.” He came over to my bedside, moving the chair Olivia had been using. I stuck out my hand for a high five and he took it.

“Gonna take more than an arrow or two. Anyway, why the look on your face?” He looked worried. He kept glancing around like something was following him.

“Well… have you heard of chaos theory?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Matt
> 
> Happy 5 A.M. everybody! :D Ok no but really I’m tired, but for such a long chapter this can’t really be brief. For one: A song. Yay! For two: Cliffhangers. Boo! For three: Since this chapter mainly stars me in an infirmary bed during the course of some of the most interesting moments in the early game, the next chapter will take place from either Jason’s or Maya’s perspective of what happened DURING my time that I was unconscious. The next chapter will start with me taking those arrows and go from there through the gate battle, into the castle, into the arena fight. Maybe you’ll find out what this whole butterfly effect thing is, hmm? Love you guys! Night.


End file.
